The Florida governor is expected to suspend current Broward Sheriff Scott Israel for his agency’s role in the Parkland massacre. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images DeSantis expected to name Broward’s first African-American sheriff, replacing Israel

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday is expected to name former Coral Springs Police Sgt. Gregory Tony to Broward County’s top law enforcement job, according to three people familiar with his decision.

Tony, who would be the county’s first African-American sheriff, was recommended by a father whose daughter was killed in the Parkland school shooting last February. The announcement is expected at 3 p.m. Friday.


DeSantis is expected to suspend current Broward Sheriff Scott Israel for his agency’s role in the Parkland massacre.

Tony runs a security firm that specializes in active-shooter training, which appeared to be lacking in Broward when multiple deputies failed to immediately engage Nikolas Cruz on Feb. 14, before he killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Andrew Pollack, father of murder victim Meadow Pollack, told POLITICO Florida that Tony is a good friend and a police officer who had retired as the “most-decorated sergeant” in Coral Springs, which borders Parkland.

“He’s a law-and-order-type policeman who wants to do right by the community and keep the community safe,” Pollack said. Pollack could not confirm or deny that Tony had been picked for the job.

A person close to DeSantis said Tony’s appointment and Israel’s suspension are “a done deal — at least it was as of earlier today.”

A second person close to the administration described Tony as a “fabulous pick.”

DeSantis had hinted Tuesday that Israel’s suspension was imminent. He also is weighing whether to suspend Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie, who has been criticized by Pollack, other Parkland parents and the hometown newspaper, the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The governor has broad constitutional discretion to suspend local officials for reasons that range from incompetence to criminal activity to “drunkenness.” It’s not clear what reasons DeSantis will cite, but his decisions are sure to spark a fight in the Florida Senate, which would decide whether Israel stays or goes.

Israel’s replacement would serve until Israel’s term is up in 2020 or until Israel is reinstated. The latter is unlikely, given that Republicans control the Florida Senate and many have a low opinion of the Democratic sheriff. The appointment of Broward’s first African-American sheriff could make it tougher for Democrats to unite in Israel’s defense.

People close to DeSantis say the governor was impressed with Tony’s law enforcement experience, private business background and personal story. He’s a Philadelphia native who loved Florida State University football so much that he moved to Tallahassee, saved up to pay for school and became a starting fullback in 2002 as a walk-on, according to the website Warchant.

The appointment of the county’s first African-American sheriff also would be a rebuke to Democrats who called DeSantis a racist during his campaign against Andrew Gillum. Those familiar with DeSantis’s thinking, however, say that race wasn’t a consideration in Tony’s selection.

After graduating from FSU with a criminal justice degree, Tony worked for the Coral Springs Police Department and later founded his a security company, Blue Spear Solutions.

“In 2015, with active shooter situations and mass bombings taking place nationally and world-wide, I started researching best practices to preserve and sustain life, empowering individuals to protect themselves and help others,” Tony wrote on the company’s LinkedIn page, which offers services including a program to teach “lifesaving bleeding control techniques.”

The need for active-shooter preparedness became clear last year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when as many as eight Broward sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene of the shooting but didn’t enter the building, according to a report from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission.

Commissioners questioned the urgency of Israel’s deputies, whose actions he defended, saying he didn’t want deputies rushing into “suicide missions.”

One of the group’s most significant grievances centered a policy that said deputies “may” pursue an active shooter threat. That wording didn’t sit right with commissioners, who argued that law enforcement officers have a sworn duty to run toward the sound of gunshots.

“Israel also changed the active shooter policy from ‘the deputy 'shall' go in’ to ‘the deputy 'may' go in,” Pollack said. “When eight [sheriff] deputies listened to shots fired in a school and stayed outside, they were following Israel's policy.”