If your point is that you believe he was a good guy installed in a system designed to fail, I agree. I sincerely doubt he was trained properly to conduct the planning or preparation for the situation he faced, nor was he probably supported by policy to help him succeed. But, again, if he had thought about an active shooter situation ever happening IN HIS HOUSE, he could have pretty easily forseen a sniveling chief that would throw him under a bus. All the more reason for Officer Peterson to work hard to prepare for the type of situation he faced.
It seems to me that you can agree that, if Officer Peterson was the level of professional indicated in the article, and that since he did see the shooter at some point to be able to describe his clothing, and since this school was OFFICER PETERSON’S HOUSE, where he had THOUSANDS of hours of patrol time in that school, along with exposure to probably every bad actor who’s been around that school for almost a decade, then Officer Peterson probably did recognize Cruz, even at at quick glance at a distance, right? If I’m correct, the dispatch tapes probably have him call out Cruz’s suspected identity, right?
We have no idea what the officer saw, from his mouth, only what Israel stated. We don’t know that he identified the clothes or the shooter, many conjecture that it was a student. We just don’t know. We do know that he was 53, overweight, had trouble chasing the 4 students previously, and was following protocol to wait for back-up. We know his superior (a previous swat team leader) would have performed differently in his own words. 20/20 is easy when your life was not at risk, and especially when you have a political agenda as a leader of the Broward Police Department. He performed his job admirably for the time he worked at the school, over 10 years. I never heard him call it HIS HOUSE, and you did not either. He was past time to retire, and no doubt the younger officer would be on the beat, and he was in easier duty. It was probably the right move on his part to retire. There was no point continuing for him, and politically it was expedient for Israel to announce him resigning. Now the heat will go onto Israel and his department. I doubt that Peterson will have long lasting issues as more is found out about Broward County dropping the ball supporting their officer, and any officers on this board know you don’t go after a shooter that has .223 rounds with a semi-automatic with a 9mm side arm unless your ready to commit suicide, which serves no one. IMO.