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Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset
How Andrew Pollack Made Florida Schools Safer for Every Child
00:52:56
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- [00:00]
A
The first school shooting that I can remember, it may have happened before was Columbine. Well, after Columbine, that should have been the last freaking one. All the lawmakers, every single state should have unified to save our children.
- [00:13]
B
I've watched video of my daughter getting murdered. I don't get it. There's states that are taking the police out of the schools. They think it's scary for kids to have police in the schools. You got to have some common sense. You want to send your kids to the school that has a no gun zone sign on it and no police? I don't want to do that.
- [00:35]
A
All right, guys, I have a good one here today. I've got. Andrew Pollock is an American activist. And in 2018, on Valentine's Day, this man lived what I think all parents really, truly fear and dread in the United States of America. His daughter Meadow was one of the victims at the Stoneman Douglas shooting out here in Florida. And this man has dedicated every second of his life to.
- [01:00]
B
To.
- [01:02]
A
To really push forward initiatives so that no other parent has to deal with this. And unfortunately, we are still having these. These shootings at schools and now churches, etc, and it needs to stop. So without further ado, I welcome Andrew Pollock to the show. How you doing, buddy?
- [01:20]
B
All right. Thanks for having me. You know, yesterday would have been my daughter's 26th birthday. It's every day since she's been killed that nothing really has changed. The pain that. That I feel. I can't speak for every parent, but it's probably one of the worst things that could happen in life is to have a child murdered. You know, and I always correct people. A lot of people say lost. You know, when you lose something, you could find it. I tell people, you know, my daughter, she was murdered. I. I can't find her. So it's like, I don't know, it just. Just something that just hits a nerve all the time when. Lost, right? If you lose something, you could find it. But it's not a day that goes by that we all don't think about her and my family and her friends, and we miss a tremendous amount.
- [02:12]
A
You know, I. I did notice, and I was going to bring that up. You know, I saw yesterday, I was doing some. Some more kind of research, and I saw that it was her birthday. And I was like, man, I'm talking to this man tomorrow on a day after which his daughter would have turned 26.
- [02:29]
B
Yeah, she was. And she was the most like me out of my three kids. She was a real go getter. She would have had anything in life that she put her effort into. There was nothing stopping her and except nine bullets that day, you know, and no one came to help her. And, you know, you talk about these other shootings that are taking place, Florida, I could really speak for what we got accomplished in Florida under good leadership, you know, is a big difference when you compare to other states, what they're doing to what we've done in Florida. Like you always hear, Florida leads the way. We were, we were fortunate. We had sent Rick Scott at the time, was the governor, and I sat with him and he put a commission in. He put the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas commission in place. It, it was law enforcement, lawyers, mental health counselors, parents, everyone sat on this commission and they dissected from when this thing was born that killed my daughter all the way to the day of the shooting and after the response. And they, they said, where can we make a difference? And we looked at all that, we went through it and we made changes in Florida where other states really aren't making the changes. You know, Texas, Texas had a terrible shooting the same year in May, May 18th of 2018. Ten people were killed in the school in Santa Fe, Texas. And they didn't make the changes like we did in Florida. So Florida we made, I'm not saying it can't happen in Florida, but we made, we made a lot of changes from mental health to threat assessments to police officers, to arming teachers and personnel in the schools, having plain clothes offices in the schools. You know, all this hardening of the schools, we accomplished single point of entries, fencing. You know, they took it serious in Florida and these other states, you know, they just don't do it, you know, and I don't get it. You know, it's 20, 25 and I look at it, it really put it on the parents, you know, a lot of the parents, you know, you know better. You know, you wouldn't go on a plane without walking through security. And there's parents now that still are sending their kids to school with no security, no plan in place. And I call it, it's. They roll, they're rolling the dice. Every day you're rolling the dice. And like what happened a month ago in, I think it was Minnesota at that church, they rolled the dice, those parents, and they, and they lost. You know, it's very slim chance of it happening. But if you ask every parent, any parent that had this happen to them or with a shooting, they all think it couldn't happen to them. So if you either you want to roll the dice or you want to take it serious, and that. That. It's really crazy, but that's the way I look at it.
- [05:37]
A
I agree. I mean, I will tell you this, Andrew, and anybody who knows me very, very well, the hardest thing for me to do every single day is drop my kids off at school. And I will say this. They're in a prep school that has bulletproof windows. All right? They have three security guards that are armed, but still, you never know. My wife is in the back of the school in the portables. There's no security there. There's nothing there for her. So, you know, again, it's tough. When I see my wife and my children go to school every day, and it haunts me to a point where there's times, like, when these things happen, like in Minnesota or anything else, and I see these things, it puts me in a space. I'm like, damn. Like, I have an emotional response to it because I. I don't think any parent. Any parent in this nation should have to worry about their child going to school and coming home.
- [06:29]
B
Shouldn't have to. But it's a sad. It's just a sad case of what happened. You know, the population has doubled. There's more meds, there's more crazy people, and you can't control society, and that's the way society went. So it's our obligation to make it so they're safe in school. You know, where they could go. And they know no one's. No one could harm them in the schools. And Florida did a great job doing it. You know, we have one deputy per 500 students. That's the law of Florida. You know, we. And like I said, we did. We made so many changes. The best. One of the best is, you know, I work with a company, too. It's. We do a bunch of security, but when it comes to security, it's all layers. It's not one fix all. You know what I mean? And you need to have a plan in place. You need to train. You can put all the technology in your school, but if you don't. If you don't practice, if you don't drill with law enforcement, get them involved, then it's useless, really. And, you know, Florida takes it serious, but took 17 people getting killed. And then you see these other places, you know, they. They go to school, really, and there's no police at the school. You send in your kid. It's. It does. It's like. Doesn't even make sense. You know, I'm doing work in D.C. you know, getting things done in the country and working with different legislators and stuff. But I was at the DOE Department of Education. I'm meeting with one of the top lawyers there about two months ago and I asked him, so what's at your kids school? Because he's, he read my book and we're talking, he goes, you know, I'm embarrassed to tell you, I don't even know if there's police at my daughter's school. Could you imagine? And I'm like, you're kidding me, right? I said, well, I can't believe it. I go, well, it's serious. You know what I'm saying? You're rolling the dice. That's it. You want to roll the dice every day with your kids, then roll them. You know, you got to know better now. I didn't know, you know, 2018, I didn't know the school board stuff. I did, you know, I, I should have been, I lived in Parkland. It was, it's route, it's the safest city, it's ranked in the state of Florida. But I didn't know anything, you know what I mean? And look what happened to me son. But, but I, we've been preaching, you know, it's happened. Parents can't say they don't know anymore about keeping their kids safe. You know, you know, what's going on at your kids school. Parents, if they get involved, there's nothing stronger than parents getting involved and putting in the right school board members or getting involved in going up to the school and saying we want this. You know, parents have the power to make change.
- [09:08]
A
Why do you think. And you know, we, you alluded to it earlier about other states not putting in proper measures like Florida has taking that action to protect the children. We can, we can just assume why. Right? But in your opinion, why would a certain state not see what's going on and want to insulate as much as they humanly can to protect these children?
- [09:33]
B
I don't get it. You know, a lot of them, listen, there's states that are taking the police out of the schools.
- [09:40]
A
That makes no freaking sense.
- [09:41]
B
You know, they think it's scary for kids to have police in the schools, but, but I put it on the parents. I don't care what party you belong to, you know, you can't be, you got to have some common sense. You know, even if, you know, Democrats don't have that. But you got to think that, listen, you want your kid to go to school where there's police Officers. Right. So it's on them. They send them. You want to send your kids to the school that has a no gun zone sign on it and no police. I don't want to do that. You know, there's schools in Florida. I know because I went to the training. They have the guardian program in Florida, which is, which is really good. They'll put anyone who wants to volunteer, they'll put them through this program and it's very vigorous, you know that they're held to a high standard to pass this guardian and they were able to be plain clothes in the school. I don't think there's been. I don't think there's been a shooting at a school where teachers went through this program and there's unarmed. I mean, there's armed undercover in the school. You know, makes a big difference when you put a sign there. We're going to defend our children, you know, with deadly force. When you put that sign there. We've read these manifestos from these shooters. These cowards. They, they write it. They pick the school that has no security. They picked a school they went during the day because they were worried there could be a parent there that had concealed carry. You know, they, it's in there. It's what they write. They're cowards. They want to go to a place where no one's going to shoot back. And I don't get it. You know what I mean? But it's on the parents in these other states. You want to send your kids here. I can't beat my head against. I can only beat my head against the wall so many times, telling them what you need. You know, I've watched video of, of my daughter getting murdered. I watch videos of shootings. We try and make a difference and educate. You know, I'm all over the country speaking at different security events. You know, a lot of technology is going into the security and, and my company, we try and do it, we try and take, we try and take human error out. Out of it with technology because I learned under distressed, you can't expect someone to go to their phone, swipe it, punch in a code and do all these things. When, when bullets, they're here on bullets, most of them are shaking. So I talk about things that could make a difference in life and with response. But, you know, it's up to the districts and the parents, you know, and you know, you want to send your kid to a school like where you send your children, you don't want a school that's a no Gun zone.
- [12:18]
A
And. And I. And I still. And I still worry. I mean. I mean, you know, Andy still scares me daily to a point where I'm. I'm getting ready for this interview today, and I'm thinking, you know, I'm gonna have this conversation. Meanwhile, my three children and my wife are going to school, and I know what they have at the place that they're at, but to me, still, it still isn't enough. I would listen. I'm one of those crazy people. I would love to see special ops at every interest, in every exit. Like, I would love that.
- [12:49]
B
I'd like to. I would give the crossing guards. I'd let them go through that. If they could go through that guardian class. I. I don't them also, you know, anyone who could go, you know, if they're held to a higher standard of accuracy at the end of the class when they're shooting, then to the deputies that are on patrol, they have to hit targets, you know, at a tighter group than a deputy taking the class. So I'm all for it. And I went through it, my friend. Everyone in Florida heard. I'm good friends with Sheriff Grady Judd. He wrote the curriculum for the Guardian program, and it's implemented in a lot of schools, not all of them. You know, they're all worried, oh, we're going to arm the teachers. But you're not arming teachers. You're arming people that want to go through the program. You're not making anyone go through it. You don't want to go through it, don't do it. But if you want to go through this program, that's intense. I think they should get a little more money, you know, for me, if you ask me, from the state. But if you want to go through this program, we're going to make it available for you. And when you get out of that. When you get out of that program, you're going to be ready, you know.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And that's only one part of it, Sean. You know, what happened in Florida wasn't. It was a total failure that we saw, and we made a lot of the changes. So we did it on the security side, you know, with making changes, and then we did it on the policy. You know, in Broward, we had that superintendent that came from Chicago, and he brought these leniency policies to Florida into Broward county, where he was saying that African American children were getting arrested and expelled and suspended more than any of the other students. So he brought programs in to not hold kids accountable, you know, rather than Try and help these kids and set them up for success. He said, you know, let's. There must be racism in Broward county, so let's. Let's change all these policies. And they stopped holding kids accountable. You know, no. You know, no suspensions, no arrests. No. They weren't getting expelled. They put them to a program. What we learned when my daughter was in school, the kids were allowed three misdemeanors per school year without ever getting introduced to law enforcement. They could sell weed, they could assault the teacher, assault the students, steal an iPhone, and then it would reset every year. They could do another three misdemeanors the next year and never get introduced to law enforcement.
- [15:25]
A
That's not even real life. Hold on. That's not even real life. You go on the street. You. You go on the street. I'm. I'm an adult. I have a misdemeanor. I'm going to jail.
- [15:34]
B
Not. Not in Broward. Not when he came there. And we. We changed it. But this created a very unsafe environment of teachers getting assaulted, kids getting assaulted. The teachers didn't even report anything because it was useless, because it would go up the chain and the kids would be back in school. You know, they're back in class, like, the next day. So he brought those policies into. Into Broward. So think about it. So the superintendent comes in, he can say, the first year he reduced suspensions and arrests by like, 70% was a miracle. It's just this fake liberal mentality of saying, oh, yeah, I'm doing a great job, but they just stopped reporting it. Right? And then you get the sheriff, Sean. The sheriff signs on because he's an elected official. He could say he reduced crime in minors by 50% because they just stop arresting. You know, they're putting him through this program, so he's a hero to the people. Oh, wow, look at this sheriff, he reduced crime by 50%. And the superintendent, he. He. He reduced suspensions and kids getting expelled by 70%. He must be doing something right. But we uncovered all this, and we made mean that sheriff was removed from office, from the governor Desantis. The super people don't read about these things. They knew. They heard about the sheriff, but the superintendent was arrested on perjury, felony perjury charges. So I. I held a lot of these people accountable. After my daughter, she wanted me to do that. So I held them all accountable, and I pretty much wrecked that whole county. You know, we dissected them. You know, four school board members were removed from office. Also, the media doesn't ever want to report on that kind of stuff.
- [17:27]
A
It just doesn't make any sense to me, Andy. I mean, to be, to be honest, like, I'm at a loss right now because to me, the first one, the first school shooting that I can remember, it may have happened before was Columbine. I was in college and that happened. And then shortly after that, it was a movie theater incident. And that was kind of like in my conscious mind, that was the start of it. Right. But I could go back and say, well, after Columbine, that should have been the last one. That should have been the last freaking one. There shouldn't even be one. But the fact that it happened, that should have been it. Every, all the lawmakers, every single state should have unified to save our children, to save innocent children. They're going to school for an education and they have to worry. I, I just, it, it, it fires me up to a point where. Makes me lose respect for the states and the policymakers that aren't doing enough to save kids.
- [18:30]
B
Yeah. And then they'll say they don't have the funds, which is baloney. You know what I mean? It's all B.S. they have the funds, they just, they don't put it in the right place. You know, they got money to, to have a brand new football stadium. Right. But then they won't have nothing that has no security. You know, and then you talk, even a private summit, that private school, it really irked me they didn't have a, any security there. You're telling me the parents can't afford another couple hundred dollars tuition, so they cannot, they can have a police officer and, and, and then you look at the school. Where's the parents going to send their children to school? Do they want to see them safe with police? You charge a little more money. How do you not? What's the parent going to say? I'm not, I don't want to have a police officer there. Most of them are going to go with it, but they don't, you know, they don't take it serious in these other states. My temple in Florida, I. You're going to. There's no way anyone's going there. You know what I mean? I know as a fact what I gave them in the training and how serious they take it that they're going to go down the street to the liberal temple, because where they go, where they don't have all the guards and the police and the rifles, you know, I made sure that my temple is secure, but I want to, if there's anyone listening from these temples and churches. So this last week, there's a couple of Jewish holidays I went and I was on the road. I had to be somewhere, but I went to the shuls. So the first one I went to was in Spokane, Washington. You know, I get it. These rabbis, they don't know security. They're hiring details, right? And the guy's sitting in his car the whole time out in the driveway. I go, I told the rabbi, I go, listen, you're paying these guys. Don't leave him. He. He's sitting in his car. What is he going to do sitting in his car? He's just going to take the first few shocks. That's it. Make sure they're out at front. You know what? They don't want us. They want to sit, get a stool by the front door. The next place I went to was. Where the hell was I? Trying to think. I'm all over the place all the time. I was. I went to another one. Right, right. I can't believe. I can't think where the hell I was. Oh, New Orleans. There you go. I was in New Orleans for a security conference. And the guy sitting in the lobby on his phone, you know. You know what I mean? So if anyone's listening and they work at these places or they have a detail, speak up. You're paying for the detail. There's, you know, there's nothing more that irks me than a guy in. In a uniform or sitting there on his phone when he's supposed to be doing security, you know, so you got to speak up. That's something I'm going to be working on the next month to get the word out to these places of worship. You know, they think that they could trust his security. Sitting on his phone. I couldn't believe it. On his phone, on the chair in the lobby, like, he's going, like, what are you going to do? So you can have these details, but you got to speak up everybody and make sure they're doing the right thing. Don't take it in, you know, And I carry. I go. Whenever I go anywhere, I'm carrying just for my own protection and to be able to save people. I don't want. You know what I mean? I don't want to sit there and have people just cringing. I want to be able to, you know, if someone's coming in there, I'm going to. We're shooting back. So everyone should, you know, concealed carries a great thing. But speak up at these, what, churches and details if you see guys sitting, go talk to the pastor, go talk to the rabbi and make sure they're doing their job properly. You know, not like what I saw the last two over the last couple of weeks.
- [22:08]
A
Yeah, that's just blatant complacency.
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B
Yeah, I don't like it.
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A
That's scary.
- [22:16]
B
And the pastors and the rabbis that, you know, they think they're professionals. They're telling that they know what they're doing, but they're getting lazy. So you got to speak up. And that's something I'm going to address in the next. With my company and being in. Being in some religious groups that I'm at, having them speak up for that for their congregation.
- [22:37]
A
I mean, now's the time. I mean, you know, you look at a month ago in Minneapolis, you know, at the. At the Catholic school. And then last. Was it last week at a morning.
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B
Can you believe it? The Mormons, Really, My friends are Mormon. I love the guy. Ryan Petty, he carries everywhere. He can't. He can't figure out some of these Mormons that they don't want. They don't take the security. Yeah, that's serious. You know, he. They don't even want him carrying when he goes to. When he goes to the temple. I think they call it the Mormons. You gotta. God takes care of those who take care of themselves. That's what I tell them. You know, you. You gotta. You owe it to yourself and your congregation to take your security. You know, I go to a place out here, and when I go to Oregon, we got security, you know, and they're not sitting on their ass either. You gotta be. You gotta have your head on a swivel and speak up, whoever's listening. That.
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A
That brings up a good question. I have a great question for you, and I'm not coming at anybody. I've just things that I've observed, right. So when my children were in public school, they would have one deputy, right? And the deputy just kind of seemed like they weren't really around doing much. It was like, you know, there, if there's a school, if there's like a little event in the auditorium, they're in the auditorium. Why aren't they manning. Why aren't they manning the front?
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B
Why?
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A
I mean, so my question is, is it's not just enough to have someone on campus, is it?
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B
They have to be one, you know what I mean? One's not good, you know what I mean? It should be one in Florida, one for 500. But that's why I preach that you need on the plane clothes too. You don't want someone coming into the school or anyone, your church, a building. You, you know, he's a sitting target. If you just have one, he's dead first. You know, if they really want to do damage, you know they're going to take out the deputy in uniform or if it's someone that, that knows the school or the church, they could come right behind him. They know where he is all the time. He's an easy target. That's why undercover with our Guardian program, those not knowing that, that's a big deterrent, like you, you know, people think, oh, you know, it's not the proper security, but a deterrent. We'll never know how many people, how many lives we save in Florida just because they're not going to go to these schools where we have guardians or where we have one deputy per 500 and we have protocols in place. So we're saving lives, but we don't know how many because it's just a deterrent. And like I said before, you could read it in the manifesto. When they, when these, when these cowards, you know, pick where they pick, they pick it because it's a no gun zone. We know, like, I don't know the percentages. It's a high percentage of mass shootings that take place in no gun zones.
- [25:32]
A
Let's dive into that, right? Because most parents in your situation would lean to the side of gun control. You don't. Right. You believe in concealed carry. You believe in protecting. You believe in having the Guardian program. You know, what would you say to those people that are so against guns, but then kids are dying and even to a point where, doesn't matter. Gun control. Right? Like where. How do you, how do you speak to somebody like that? Because, you know, everybody wants to talk about it. Gun control this, gun control that. And I don't know the answer. I'm not, I'm not in this space. I'm just a parent that has three beautiful children. But I want guns on my campus. You know what I'm saying? I want that.
- [26:19]
B
I know exactly what you're saying. You know, you can preach so much, but it's like a kind of a mental illness, you know, like really like you think that if you put a no gun zone sign at the fence leading into the school that the criminal is not going to go in there. They go in there on purpose because there's no one that's going to shoot back. It makes it worse. It's a It's a, it's an invitation to evil to come into this building. It's an invitation. So, and, and I watch videos of it. You know, the guy that killed the thing that killed my daughter reloaded like seven times inside the building and there was no one there to shoot back. You know, the one deputy hid 40 minutes he was in front of the building, never went in. And there was another five or six of them that took a perimeter around the building and didn't go in while kids were getting killed. So I oppose the no gun zones. It's the biggest. You know, it doesn't even make sense to me. Is not even a discussion, you know, because they're going to, they're going to go in. That's where they pick it, you know, I was in New Orleans, it was interesting and I went to The World War II Museum, which is pretty cool place. And they had metal detectors. And I'm like, oh shit, I have my concealed carry. But I sent my wife did a recon first. She went in, she said no problem. All you got to do is show your ID and your concealed carry license. I went in and, and that was it. Right through the metal detector. And it just shows, you know, if you look at statistics, people that have concealed carry, a law abiding citizens, you want those people in your place of business, you know, they're not committing crimes. I don't want to ever commit a crime. I don't want to lose my permit. You know, everyone's the same way. We're law abiding citizens, you want people with the licenses. So I thought that was a nice surprise. I was like, oh, these guys aren't going to let me in the museum. And no problem. I went in, I showed him my ID and that was that. So it's a safer place.
- [28:28]
A
Hey, we're going to take a quick break to hear from our Powered by sponsor. We're proud to announce a partnership between White Sands Treatment Centers and the Determined Society. With multiple locations across Florida, White Sands provides luxury top rated addiction treatment from medical detox and inpatient care to outpatient support and long term aftercare. They're resort style campuses. Expert clinicians and holistic programs create real lasting recovery. Together we're committed to bringing hope, resources and healing to those who need it most. White Sands Treatment Centers, that's comforting. You know when I we. When you talked about Parkland just a second ago and you talked about that incident where the shooter reloaded seven times. There were six deputies out there on the perimeter and the one in the front, scared to go in. I remember that. Right. And so it's. It's crazy because the more. The more you and I chat, the more I remember about this. This tragedy. And I remember being so effing angry that that deputy. It was. It was very well documented that he was scared. It's like, wait a second, what about the children? What about Meadow? What about the 14 others that are in there? I mean, Meadow was heroic that day. She was hit one time, went and covered a freshman. And then the shooter reload and. And hit and shot seven more times.
- [30:02]
B
Through the bullets, went through my daughter and killed the girl underneath her. And. And this guy's with a bulletproof vest. Who's this? You know, he would have had a clear shot at him on the second floor, because on the second floor, everyone shut their doors and the blinds. So the killer walked on the set, right through the second floor. Who knows? You know, most of these guys are cowards. They either surrender or kill themselves. They're not. They don't even get into a firefight. You rarely see a firefight. They're always killing themselves or run or running away or they just put their hands up. So we will never know. He retired, you know, I think he gets about 110,000 a year pension. Peterson. Deputy Peterson. He was brought up on charges, but the. The state really didn't do a good job in his case, I feel.
- [30:52]
A
Do you believe he should still get that pension?
- [30:54]
B
Yeah, he gets his pension if we got him. No. Do you believe.
- [30:57]
A
But my question is, though, do you believe he should? No, because I don't think so. I don't think so.
- [31:03]
B
He should be in prison. You know what I mean? I don't know how he didn't just hang himself, the guy, after he did what he did, you know, but you know what? He's. He repeated this lie over and over again. You know, you lie to yourself over and over again, you start to believe it. So he believed there was a sniper on the roof. There was no sniper on the roof. We have recordings, you know, we. We have recordings. He's telling people not to go in the building. He's worried about traffic. He was worried about traffic while kids were getting killed, you know, inside the building, and he just wasn't. He was never going in that building. This guy. He went when we deposed them. When we went. We deposed him in my case, you know, because we have a wrongful death case going on. He showed up with a bible to the deposition. You know, I go, dude, that Bible isn't going to help you for not coming clean. And are you allowing my daughter and all those other kids to get killed while you sat there and saved yourself by a brick wall? So, yeah, he was there with it, with his Bible. I don't really care for the guy that much. I don't like him. There was another bunch of deputies. They lost their jobs. The sheriff got removed. You know, it was a lot of work getting everything done, but a lot of it I couldn't have got done if I didn't help get Governor DeSantis elected. He was a real pit bull in my corner, and he helped. He put that grand jury into effect to look into all the failures in Broward. He removed the sheriff, you know, from his duties, put in another guy that's doing a fantastic job at Broward right now. Sheriff Tony is doing a great job in Broward. It's a tough county. It's a tough county to be a sheriff in, but he's doing a great job. You know, like I said, we removed a bunch of people from offices. We changed policy. We held everybody accountable, and that's all, you know, I could have done, really, for my daughter. It's hold those people accountable that failed at that day.
- [33:03]
A
It's just heartbreaking to hear that there were seven trained professionals not entering the building while Meadow was the one being heroic.
- [33:11]
B
Yeah, a couple went in. You know, there was a couple of guys that worked at the school that went in. And just to show you that, like. So they went in with radios. If any of them went in the building, these. Not many people talk about it, but I'll talk about it. They got killed. But if they would have just said Code Red on their radio, my daughter would be alive on the third floor, you know, and. And they had radios. One guy hid in the closet on the second floor. You know, the monitor. They called the monitors back then. That's what they were. Security guard, slash monitor. So what? One guy saw the guy, he pulled up in an Uber, the shooter, and got out with a rifle bag. The guy doesn't call Code Red. And his nicknames, crazy boy. He sees the rifle bag, he doesn't call Code Red, you know, and lock the school down. Kids would have, you know, would have been a different ending to the story if he would have done that. The deputy who hit at the wall doesn't call Code Red. Two guys that go in the building that got killed, they could have called Code Red. They didn't call it. So it's just a total failure, you know, sure. They went in unarmed, got killed. But so we developed. I have a company. We have a. You know, like an access card that people have. They swipe we have an access card, and it has. It has a panic button built into it. So all you have to do, a teacher or in a church, a temple, a building, if something goes down, you could just press the button and it'll go. It'll go. It'll notify police. It has your fingerprint on it, so it knows it's coming from where you're at. It'll map first responders right to the person who hit that button. And it'll let the whole building know that there's an emergency and put it into a lockdown mode. So we developed that. Yeah, we developed that. After I've seen all these failures where, you know, they. People have apps. There's no shot someone's going to go to their phone and open up their phone and go to an app and do all that, you know, so we just made it where there's a button, and it'll do mapping for them, and it'll push video to first responders on their way to the building. If they could see it on their cell phones or on their computer in the car, they could see what's going on. And then after you, Voldemort, Uvalde, pissed me the hell off when they didn't go in the building. They let them kids get killed. The door wasn't even locked. You know, it was all bullshit. They said it was locked. It wasn't locked. And so now we came up with something that goes in the classroom, and when there's an emergency, it has a shutter. You know, the teachers union, they're all, they don't want cameras in the classroom. They don't want to show you what's going on in classrooms. All right, so we got around that I have a device that goes in a classroom, and it has a shutter on it. So only in an emergency, the shutter will open and it'll give first responders access and eyes into the classroom. So we're always working on stuff after, you know, we dissect things where we can make a difference and save lives. And that's what we do with my company.
- [36:29]
A
It's great to hear because a couple years, I don't know if it was last year or the year before, there was a lockdown at the public school my kids were at. And it was a scary freaking moment, man. Like, as a father, I'm sitting there, I get the email and I get the text message. And I'm like, oh, my God. I started walking out to my truck. I'm like, I got. You know, I don't know who I am or what I'm gonna do, but I gotta go save my kids. And it was a false alarm. Apparently, one of the teachers hit the. Hit the button on their ID card. So that's your company?
- [37:06]
B
Yeah, well, we have it program it different. So really, like, it's got to be like, you can program it twice for the nurse, three times for police. You know, we have this button, and it really. I know it's going to work because people won't react the way you think they're going to react. You got to have. You know, you got to make it as simple as possible for a lockdown. And then at your school, if they have this stuff and they're not bringing in law enforcement to train with them, then it's a waste of money. You know what I mean? In a situ. In a panic, no one's going to know what to do. But if you train for it, you know, like athletes, police, they're always training on a monthly basis or daily basis. You got to bring in the police and train with law enforcement. And I tell people. So on the third floor, where, when my daughter was killed, there was one teacher that participated in training with law enforcement. Like, they went to the school and they did a lockdown. They did what to do? They did. Like, she heard noise. They had blanks. They were banging, yelling. So this teacher did training with Coral Springs pd. So when she heard what was going on, she was familiar. She goes, wow. So she locked down her classroom, shut the blinds. They put all the kids on that one wall. That's a safe zone. You know, no one could see into the room or shoot through the door. And she saved her whole classroom. My daughter's teacher heard the fire alarms, ignored the 90 rounds that went off. You know, if you ever heard an AR, it's a loud round, 90 rounds go off. She decides that there's a fire in a cement building and puts my daughter into the hallway because she heard the fire alarm where she got shot nine times. And then. But. But she locked her out, too. After she heard more shots. She shut the door and locked it so no one could get back in. And she got shot in the. In the hallway.
- [39:03]
A
What the hell? What happened to that teacher after that incident?
- [39:06]
B
Oh, she got a graze on her arm. She ended up getting a million dollars in a lawsuit. That teacher that put those kids out into the classroom. But I don't know, could you blame. If she. She didn't have all the training. She wasn't that bright. Because my daughter, in her text, she had like a couple of texts to her boyfriend, and she said she heard gunshots, but the teacher put her out into the hallway, you know, because of the fire alarm. And I don't think there hasn't been anyone that died in a school from a fire since maybe the 60s. You know, that's. That's.
- [39:43]
A
That's wild to me. How do you ignore 90 rounds and send a child out there?
- [39:47]
B
My daughter heard the rounds, know what I mean? The teacher had to hear it, but she let the kids out into the hallway where they. Where she got killed, and then she couldn't even get back in. And so it was just a big cluster of multiple. Multiple failures. Like there could have been. God could have intervened a lot of times, and my daughter could have been alive, you know, from the person at the gate. There's that, you know, so there's a school next door to it, too. Okay. There's a middle school right there on the same, you know, on the same property a little bit, I don't know, a few hundred yards to the west as a middle school. That day that deputy was at training that would have been there. You know, he goes to training three times a year. So could you imagine my luck? Even that deputy, who was a solid guy, was at training on the other side of town. He couldn't even be at the school, and they didn't fill him in with another guy. So there was no one at the school that day that was right next door that could have been there. Once he heard him on the radio, he said. He told me, andy, I can't even believe it. Like, he had to. I think he retired after that just because he was so upset. He wasn't at the school that day. He was at some training. So there's a lot of things that happen and failures that my daughter, like, it was like a domino's effect of failures that she could have been saved at any time, but it didn't happen that day. That.
- [41:22]
A
That's really difficult. You know, just even hearing that, it. I can't imagine the things that you and your family have gone through just playing that over and over. My daughter would be here. Meadow would be here if, If. If something so easy as if that jackass teacher didn't send her out into the hallway.
- [41:43]
B
Yeah, but that was already the type. The 10th if she couldn't. There was 10 before that, you know, with the guard at the Uber driver. Really? You pick up a kid with a rifle bag in the middle of the day and you drive them to the school. The Uber driver would arrive. Cabela's, it said Cabela's on it. A rifle bag. And then the monitor seeing Crazy boy was his nickname. And we have it. Look, they're like speaking like they said they had a meeting the security a year prior and they said if anyone was going to shoot the school up, it's going to be this kid. And we have them all talking about it and he doesn't call a Code Red. You know, the deputy that don't call the Code Red, hides at the building, doesn't go in. Then there's a, there's a guy too on the second floor. He sees the shooter on the first floor. You know, you're talking now a 40, 50 year old grown man sees the shooter on the first floor, goes, runs back up the second floor and hides in a closet and does, and he has his radio, doesn't say Code Red or call the principal or anything. Saves himself in a closet when the shooters on the first wall. So you know, it's just. And then the guys that go in that don't call the Code Red and then the deputies that don't go in, there's just, you know, so many failures. The school, not even, you know, the school, they frisked this guy every morning before school. That's how bad this kid was. And they didn't tell the parents. Really? You're sending a kid to the school, you're so worried about him being dangerous that you got to frisk them. And you think it's my daughter's right? You know what I mean? My daughter's safe in the school and all these other kids with a kid you got a frisk.
- [43:23]
A
What? Given that situation with the deputies and, and everything that you're talking about, is there certain psychological tests that Florida's putting them through to know that like if this happens, you're not going to freeze up?
- [43:39]
B
Yeah, well, they put them through tests and it's leadership too. You know what I mean? Lead by example. My, my friend who is the sheriff in Florida, he, it's not going to be on his watch again. He won't tolerate it, you know, and it's leadership. What you expected these guys and go end the training. You give them the tools, but you want the right guy, you know, Sheriff Grady Judd, I was there when he was doing the, the guardian program training, right. And he came and he spoke to what, the cadets, you Know, there was probably like 20, 30 people there. He goes. He goes, when you. When you're in that school and someone comes to hurt one of our kids or children, I want you to shoot them graveyard dead. That's what he tells me. And if you can't shoot them graveyard dead, there's the door right there. This job's not for you. And that's. And that's what he told them. And, you know, giving them the right tools. You know, I have another friend in Bradford that was training. Training these guardians, and they. They do it right in the school. You know, right in the school they're training. You know, there's a lunch lady, there's a custodian. You know, it's amazing. They go through this training and they're there and. And the shooter's not going to go to one of those schools knowing that, you know what? I don't know who's in there carrying.
- [45:01]
A
Yeah. You know, I feel like Carmine Marceno's done a good job in Lee county with. With this. You know, there's metal detectors at the public schools. You know, he's in a lot of the private schools. You know, this specific school that my kids go to, it's a. It's a private security. But I mean, I think there's three people. You know.
- [45:26]
B
My temple, just to show you there was one, they could get one police officer or two security guards. We opted for the two security guards that are trained rather than just having one police officer. So it could be the same at your school. You know, you're better off. Like I said, one is not enough, you know, to have out of school. You know, it's just he. He could. The bed. You never know in a situation or he could get killed first. You know, he's a sitting target when you're in a uniform, so one is definitely not enough. Plain clothes is better.
- [46:01]
A
Given everything that's going on, it seems that, you know, they're not so few and far between anymore, Andy. It's. It seems like every time I open up my Instagram app or look at the news, there's another incident at a campus, you know, just. Even on.
- [46:17]
B
What was it?
- [46:17]
A
I think September 11, there was an open. Wasn't there a shooter on the Naval Academy? There's an active shooter at the Naval Academy and that.
- [46:23]
B
What about that building? In the building in Manhattan, too? They didn't know.
- [46:27]
A
Oh, yeah.
- [46:29]
B
They had that a few months ago, too.
- [46:33]
A
It's wild to me, given everything going on.
- [46:36]
B
Is.
- [46:37]
A
Is. Is Florida doing any more to revamp some of these systems and processes and adding. Because I love the fact that my children are safer in Florida. Florida doesn't take anything for granted. They, they really, they double down when they have to. You know, they, they got that wild, wild west mentality about them, which I absolutely adore, to be quite honest with you.
- [46:59]
B
Yeah, we got the best governor in the country. You know what I mean? Ron is a friend of mine and he did a great, he's doing a great job for Florida. You know, a lot of people don't notice because, you know, it just came up again because it is Charlie Kirk getting assassinated. So with the death penalty in Utah, it has to be unanimous, okay, to get the death penalty. So Florida, here's my daughter's case, it was unanimous. He killed 17 people on video and he didn't get the death penalty. Right. Because one person felt sorry for him or two. So Florida changed the law after my daughter's trial to majority. So it's something Utah should have been thinking about. But even, you know, I could talk a lot about the death penalty. It's really. The death penalty isn't a deterrent for these evil people because it's 20, it could be 20 something years until you could get killed, you know, in the death penalty, if you even happen and appeal it, it could be over 20 years. You get put in a certain cell when you're on death row. I looked into all this. Death row, you get a cell, you get your own security, your computer, your tv. You don't have to work in the penitentiary, you don't have to work there. You, they bring you your medication. So it's almost like the warden was telling me, it's like, almost like a hotel room they're getting, you know, when they're on death row. So I didn't really, with my daughter's case, I really didn't get involved with that trial. I didn't even attend one day. I didn't even take any interest in it because I knew they weren't going to get it. And I'd rather him get, I'd rather him get life without parole. You know, it's torturous, you know, being there. And hopefully he gets put into general population and he gets dealt with one day. But that death row is, is not, it's not terrible, you know what I mean? And if the death penalty was okay, we got the death penalty and then you kill him within six months, that would be like a deterrent, you know, and you, and you put it on TV just like they put Charlie Kirk's murder, getting on tv. It was brutal watching that, that you wanted to torrent. Put these killers on, let them beg for mercy and put them on the Internet. It'll be a deterrent. I know it sounds barbaric, but it wasn't. How many times did you see Charlie get killed? And what about the girl on the train? That. With that guy wasn't. That was horrible, right? The girl on the train. So take these evil people and put them on the Internet. You know, show them. Show them begging for their lives. And I think things could change a little bit. I think there would be a deterrent right now. It's no deterrent. The death penalty to these evil people.
- [49:49]
A
Yeah, I mean, they're. They're pretty much already dead, man. I mean, there's nothing behind their eyes. Their soul's gone, and they get treated.
- [49:57]
B
I'm telling you, I researched it before my daughter's case. I wanted to know what was worse, the death penalty, getting the death penalty, or life without parole? And I spoke to, like, two or three wardens, and they told me, andy, life without parole is worse for these people. They're begging for death. After a certain amount of years, they want to get put to death. Like I said, they got their own hotel room when they're on death row.
- [50:21]
A
Unbelievable. Ma'.
- [50:22]
B
Am.
- [50:23]
A
Well, look, I. I appreciate you coming on and sharing your story, Meadow's story. And it's. It's comforting to know that you spend time in a state and you're heavily invested in my children's safety. So I don't have to live with the unfortunate tragedy that you had. You have to live with every day along with 17 other sets of parents. It's just. It. It's heartbreaking, man. And I just appreciate you.
- [50:48]
B
Thanks, man. And I could tell you my good friend Ryan Petty, whose daughter was killed, Elena. He sits on the Florida. The. The state school board, and he's the chair for the school board right now. So they're doing everything possible. They still meet the commission on school safety for Marjory Stoneman Douglas. They still get together, and they're always looking for ways to make our kids safer and holding. And holding counties accountable that don't do it. That's the thing, you know, you got to hold people accountable or things don't change.
- [51:23]
A
Agreed? Agreed. For the audience, I want you guys to share this episode with someone. You know, love and trust. That could get value out of it. And just. If you are not in Florida and you have children in public school without law enforcement, let me ask you a question. Is it scarier to have people with armed, armed people on your campus or someone armed coming into the campus and potentially killing one of your children? I hate to say it like that, guys, but we live in a world where you just can't trust what's happening out there in society. And our job as parents is to protect our children. So please, think about it. If you don't want to be a part of a headline or see another children, another child or children shot and killed, then we have to do what's right and put safety measures in every single school across the United States of America. It's not about budget. It's not about resources. We have it. It's about what you spend the money on. Just like anything in life. You could sit there, you say, I can't afford a new car, but you're spending 350amonth at Starbucks. It your money goes where your focus is and what you hold value towards. So, parents, this is a call to action to protect the children. I thank you guys so much for listening again. Andy, thank you so much for coming on and sharing with me and your audience. And for the audience, until next time, stay data terminal.