SWAT officers suspended over 'brave and heroic' Florida school shooting response for not waiting for permission

Their commanding officers did not approve their response, which they say posed a safety risk

A memorial outside of the high school where 17 people were killed last month (AFP/Getty)

Two SWAT officers in Southern Florida have been suspended from the tactical team for responding to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month.

The two officers — who were members of the Miramar police department and not the Broward County Sheriff’s Department, which was in charge of the emergency response — were reportedly near the school when they heard about the shooting and sprung into action.

But, their department’s department has decided that they can no longer be on the elite Swat force, since they did not receive prior approval from their superior officers, and presented a safety risk by showing up without being called for.

The union representing the two men does not agree.

“While it may have been a violation of policy to not notify their supervisors that they were going there, their intentions were brave and heroic, I think,” Jeff Marano, the president of the Broward County Police Benevolent Association, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Miramar police spokeswoman Tania Rues told that paper that the officers were Detective Jeffrey Gilbert, and Detective Carl Schlosser. One was in the area, she said, while it was not clear where the other was at the time.

The Miramar police were not dispatched to the scene in an active capacity to respond to the Feb 14 attack that left 17 dead, but they were on stand by. They were never called up to help by the Broward County Sheriff’s Department, though, and instead were involved with grief counseling and traffic direction.

The decision not to send in more officers beyond those who were dispatched appears to have been according to the current consensus on how police forces should respond to mass shooting events.

Past shootings have showed that, a massive police response can have certain unintended consequences that limit the response capacity — including jamming up roads with police when other resources might need to be delivered to the area. Ms Rues referenced the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, as an example that shows that “controlled, organised response is what is most effective.”