A new commander is taking over Broward sheriff’s operations in Parkland, months after the previous leader came under fire for her handling of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Capt. Chris Mulligan, a military veteran and sheriff’s office employee for 19 years, will replace Capt. Jan. Jordan.
Parkland city officials asked the Sheriff’s Office to replace Jordan after complaints about her leadership during the shooting Feb. 14.
Among the criticisms: A Coral Springs deputy fire chief repeatedly asked her for permission to send his medics into the school but was rebuffed. At the time, the shooter hadn’t been caught and only a handful of specially trained SWAT paramedics were in the school.
Jordan told the deputy fire chief she’d have to check before letting more medics enter, he said. By the time the whole building was deemed safe, there was no need — everyone had been brought out by police or was dead.
Jordan had led the Parkland district since April 29, 2017, and had worked 20 years at the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, leaving in 2009 at the rank of captain, according to her personnel file.
She worked in Colorado briefly and then returned to Broward as an accreditation coordinator for the Wilton Manors Police Department and then three months as an investigator for the Broward County Public Defender’s Office. She was overseeing the Broward Sheriff’s Office Civil Division, which handles the service of legal documents, before she was selected to be the Parkland district commander.
She applied to command the Parkland district in December 2012, listing Israel, a former Fort Lauderdale Police captain and SWAT commander, as the one who referred her.
In June, Jordan was transferred to the Sheriff’s Office Department of Administration, according to spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright.
Mulligan will oversee 42 personnel. A sergeant’s position is being added to oversee school resource officers, the deputies assigned to the five Broward County Public Schools in Parkland.
Mulligan has served in the U.S. Air Force, Army and Army National Guard, and has been with the Sheriff’s Office since 1999. He served as a member of the Special Weapons and Tactics team — or SWAT — from 1999 to 2015.
The Sheriff’s Office said he most recently came from the South Broward District, which includes the cities of West Park and Pembroke Park. Parkland City Manager Bob Payton said Mulligan moved to Parkland in March to assist Jordan and was given the commander’s job Friday.
“Chris Mulligan has been with us throughout the summer working with our principals, planning the first day of school and working with the SROs,” said Parkland Mayor Christine Hunschofsky. “He has also been out in the community meeting with our residents. He has a very community-focused approach to police services which is one of the reasons our city manager decided to make him the new district chief.”
Parkland will receive eight new sheriff’s employees in all — two new sergeants and six new school resource officers, Payton said. One extra deputy will be stationed at each of the city’s three elementary schools and one middle school, and two new resource officers will work at Douglas.
The former deputy at Douglas, Scot Peterson, was criticized for failing to storm into the school during the shooting. He was placed on leave and quickly retired.
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