ANALYSIS/OPINION:

A disturbing report from Fox News shows the deputy who was supposed to be armed and on the job at Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School — the one who was there as the killings were taking place — was hiding behind a concrete column, protecting not the students but rather himself.

That’s all caught on surveillance video; it’s not a what-if.

And one can’t help but wonder: Is this the unfortunate result of all the police policies put forth in recent times that the number one goal of officers tasked to a scene is to get home safely?

After all, police are there to serve and protect — the Public. But in recent times, often while justifying the need for local departments to use military-type equipment on-the-job, it seems as if there have been an uncomfortable number of police top brass statements in the media about how their priority, how police priority in general, is to get all the officers home to their families, safely, unharmed, unhurt, alive.

That’s a good plan. Nobody but evil individuals want police dead or harmed.

But it’s not, nor it should be, the police department’s top priority.

Police priority should be to protect the innocent from harm and arrest, detain, or in serious situations, take out those who are harming the innocent — despite the personal risk to life and limb.

Self-preservation should not be the number one goal of an officer of the law.

And now we have Scot Peterson, showing exactly how an officer with self-preservation as a priority acts in a criminal situation.

From Fox: “Deputy Scot Peterson, of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, was armed and stationed on the school’s campus when a suspect identified by authorities as Nikolas Cruz opened fire with an AR-15 rifle, leaving 17 people dead and others wounded. Peterson resigned Thursday after video surveillance showed he never entered the school, even though he ‘clearly’ knew there was a shooting taking place, officials said. The revelation prompted widespread outrage. … The deputy ‘was seeking cover behind a concrete column leading to a stairwell,’ Officer Tim Burton of the Coral Springs Police Department, who responded to the shooting, told The New York Times.”

Peterson’s been suspended without pay, and then he resigned. But when reporters tried to question him at his home, they found several police cruisers parked outside, protecting him and turning back the journalists.

Americans want to know what happened and why this paid police officer cowered while kids were getting killed.

“Peterson,” Fox went on, “according to [Sheriff Scott Israel], ‘was absolutely on campus through this entire event.’ The deputy was armed and in uniform during the shooting, but never entered the building despite ‘clearly’ knowing a shooting was happening, Israel said.”

It’s believed Peterson likely stayed in hide mode for about four minutes, while the six minutes of shooting went forth. Peterson never fired his weapon — not once.

Afraid for his own life?

It would appear so.

But this is how police have been trained in recent years to think — that their lives are more important, or just as important, as the people whose lives they’ve sworn to protect and serve. And on the job, as Peterson’s actions seem to show, the two just can’t always equally coexist.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter, @ckchumley.

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