Dothan chief tells police recruits "you better have guts"

Chief Steve Parrish has a warning for those wanting to be Dothan Police officers---you better have guts.

Parrish responded to reports that deputies “hid” outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida when 17 people were shot and killed last week.

“Being a law enforcement officer has and will always require compassion and “guts”. If you don’t have both, then you need to find another line of work,” Parrish wrote on his Facebook page.

“So, to the candidates who recently applied to be a part of the Dothan PD team, you better have the guts to walk in a school when the bullets are flying around you and deal with the threat with vicious resolve.”

If reports are accurate four Broward County officers did not enter the active shooting situation including school resource officer Scot Peterson who resigned Thursday.

“I had rather have a heartbroken family crying over me, and a flag-draped casket around me, than to live with the disgraceful memory that I had a duty to protect children and failed to do it,” Parrish wrote.

He told those applying for jobs in the Dothan Police Department to “think about that long and hard.”