MIRAMAR, FLA. (WSVN) - Miramar Police temporarily suspended two SWAT team members for responding to the Parkland school shooting on their own.
The officers, identified as Detectives Jeffrey Gilbert and Carl Schlosser, did not have permission to respond to the Valentine’s Day shooting, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Miramar Police placed their SWAT team on stand-by in case the Broward Sheriff’s Office asked for assistance, but the request was never made.
The department said their actions created an officer safety situation because dispatch didn’t know where they were or what they were doing.
Both officers have been instructed to turn in their SWAT-issued rifles. They were notified of their suspension on Feb. 22.
While the officers have been indefinitely removed from the SWAT team, which the department called a “privileged program,” they remain on active duty with Miramar Police, a spokesperson told the paper.
The president of the union that represents those SWAT members told the Sun-Sentinel that, while it may have been a violation of policy to not notify their supervisors, their intentions were both “brave and heroic.”
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