Broward’s troubled 911 system among issues discussed at MSD Public Safety Commission meeting

SUNRISE, Fla. – The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission met on Wednesday to discuss some ongoing safety issues still plaguing schools, from threat management to the embattled 911 communications system.

Law enforcement, school officials and Parkland families all participated in the meeting held in Sunrise.

Tony Montalto, who lost his daughter in the MSD shooting, urged the commission to get the safety issues fixed.

“We’re almost five years past the murder of my beautiful daughter Gina, her 13 classmates and three teachers -- we need to get this fixed,” said Montalto.

One of the major topics was the 911 communications system between Parkland, Coral Springs and the Broward Sherriff’s Office.

Max Schachter, who also lost his son in the MSD shooting, insisted that communication problems have been highlighted as a major flaw in the wake of the deadly shooting.

“One of the issues during the shooting was that Coral Springs and BSO did not have each other on the radio channels, so they couldn’t even get on the channels to talk to each other,” said Schachter.

There’s been an ongoing back-and-forth debate as to who should run Broward’s 911 system.

Currently, the system is jointly operated by BSO and the county government, and BSO wants to run the system entirely.

“The law enforcement, the ones consuming and using 911, don’t have jurisdiction and have to go to the county to get approval for everything and have to go through committee after committee -- it’s just nonsense,” Schachter said.

Pinellas County Sheriff and Chair of the MSD Public Safety Commission Bob Gualtieri also discussed threat management and how more work needs to be done.

“It’s the single greatest opportunity at doing what we all want, and that is to prevent the next school shooting,” said Gualtieri.

Gualtieri also expressed how imperative it is to have a statewide system keeping track of problematic students.

The attorney representing John Herbst says the affidavits regarding residency qualification that his election rivals submitted to the city one day before he was to be sworn-in as Commissioner “contain false and inaccurate information rendring the challenge fraudulent.”

The Letter demands they “immediately withdraw their challenge the election.

Local 10 News has reached out to Coleman Prewitt, the attorney representing Kenneth Keechl and Christopher Williams. Election results show both men lost the District 1 election by a landslide.


About the Authors
Sanela Sabovic headshot

Sanela Sabovic joined Local 10 News in September 2012 as an assignment editor and associate producer. In August 2015, she became a full-time reporter and fill-in traffic reporter. Sanela holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications with a concentration in radio, television and film from DePaul University.

Ryan Mackey headshot

Ryan Mackey is a Digital Journalist at WPLG. He was born in Long Island, New York, and has lived in Sunrise, Florida since 1994.

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