As your new sheriff, I am honored to have the opportunity to serve our great county and its residents once again. I know there are many of you who are eager to learn more about me—and I promise you will soon.
But first, February 14 marks the anniversary of the devastating mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Countless lives were forever shattered on that fateful day. Families and friends are still grieving and cry out for justice. Some have actively taken on the task of getting laws changed. I am truly heartened by how our community and its citizens have banded together to comfort one another and channeled that emotion into action.
No family, no community, no one should ever have to endure the pain of another Parkland tragedy. As your sheriff, I vow to make the safety of our schools and community my top priority—and I intend to hit the ground running. In the coming weeks and months, I will introduce new policies, initiatives and training to BSO.
I know that to prevent this from ever happening again, we must be proactive. We must harden our schools. We must have highly-trained armed school resource officers ready to protect innocent lives. We must have an efficient and reliable radio system. We must keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. We must make every school campus in Broward County free from the threat of violence. We must restore the feeling of safety for every student, parent and citizen of Broward County.
To the families of those who lost their lives – Alyssa Alhadeff, Martin Duque Anguiano, Scott Beigel, Nicholas Dworet, Aaron Feis, Jaime Guttenberg, Christopher Hixon, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina Montalto, Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, Alexander Schachter, Carmen Schentrup, Peter Wang, – we will never forget.
To the victims who were wounded and survived, and to all the families, friends and community members affected by this terrible tragedy, we will never forget.
At the Broward Sheriff’s Office…we will never forget.
Sincerely,
Sheriff Gregory Tony
