How Andrew Pollack Made Florida Schools Safer for Every Child

0:00The 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. 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 kid to the school that has a no gun zone sign on it and no police? I don't want to do that.

0:34All right, guys, I have a good one here today. I've got Andrew Pollack 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 really push forward initiatives so that no other parent has to deal with this. And unfortunately, we are still having these shootings at schools and now churches, etc. And it needs to stop. So without further ado, I welcome Andrew Pollack to the show.

1:18How are you doing, buddy? 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. 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 can find it. I tell people. You know, my daughter, she was murdered. I can't find her. So it's like, I don't know, just just something that hits a nerve all the time when it's lost.

1:58Right. If you lose something, you can find it. But it's not a day that goes by that we all don't think about or my family and friends and we miss a tremendous amount. You know, 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. 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 except nine bullets that day, you know, and no one came to help her.

2:47And, you know, you talk about these other shootings that have taken 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 fortunate. Rick Scott at the time was the governor. I sat with him and he put a commission in. He put the Marjory Stoneman Douglas commission in place. 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, 10 people were killed in the school in Santa Fe, Texas.

4:02And 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 plainclothes offices in the schools, you know, all this hardening of the schools. We accomplished a 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 2025. 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 you 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 uh 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.

5:19But 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 it's really crazy. But that's the way I look at it. 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.

5:58There'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 of like, damn, like I have an emotional response to it because I don't think any parent, any parent in this nation should have to worry about their child going to school and coming home. Shouldn't have to, but it's a sad, it's just a sad case of what happened. You know, the population has doubled.

6:36There'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 uh the best one of the best is you know i i work with a company too it's uh 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 uh practice if you don't drill with law enforcement get them involved then it's useless really and you know florida thinks it's 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 dc you know getting things done in the country and working with different uh 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 kid's school because he's he read my book and we're talking he goes you know um i 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 in 2018 i didn't know the school board stuff i it 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 in putting in the right school board members or getting involved in going up to the school and saying, we want this.

9:05You know, parents have the power to make change. Why do you think, and you know, 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 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. I don't get it. You know, a lot of them, listen, there's states that are taking the police out of the schools. That makes no freaking sense, dude. They think it's scary for kids to have police in the schools.

9:45But 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? And so it's on them. They send them. You want to send your kid to the school that has a no gun zone sign on it and no police? I 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 really good. They'll put anyone who wants to volunteer, they'll put them through this program.

10:24And it's very vigorous. You know, they're held to a high standard to pass this Guardian, and they're able to be plain clothes in the school. 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, it 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 write it, they pick the school that has no security they pick the school they went during the day because they were worried there could be a parent there that had concealed carry 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 but it's on the parents in these other states you want to send your kids I can't beat my head against the wall.

11:21I can only beat my head against the wall so many times telling them what you need. You know, I've watched video of my daughter getting murdered. I've watched 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 my company, we try and take human error out of it with technology because I learned under distress, you can't expect someone to go to their phone, swipe it, punch in a code, and do all these things when bullets, they're hearing bullets. Most of them are shaking.

12:02So I talk about things that can make a difference in life and with response, but 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. And I and I still and I still worry. I mean, I mean, you know, Andy, it 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.

12:39but 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 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'd own 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 uh everyone in florida heard i'm good friends with uh 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 gonna arm the teachers but you're not all make teachers you're all making people that want to go through the program.

13:35If 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 from 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 program, you're going to be ready. And that's only one part of it, Sean. What happened in Florida, 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 uh 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 uh 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.

14:34So 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, there must be racism in Broward County. So let's change all these policies. And they stopped holding kids accountable. You know, no suspensions, no arrests. They weren't getting expelled. They put them through 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.

15:15And then it would reset every year. They could do another three misdemeanors the next year and never get introduced to law enforcement. That's not even real life. Hold on. That's not even real life. You go to the street. You go on the street. I'm an adult. I have a misdemeanor. I'm going to jail. Not in Broward. Not when he came there. And 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.

15:53so 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 percent it 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 percent because they just stopped arresting. You know, they're putting him through this program. So he's a hero to the people. Oh, wow. Look at this sheriff.

16:35He reduced crime by 50 percent. And the superintendent, he reduced suspensions and kids getting expelled by 70 percent. He must be doing something right. But we uncovered all this and we made 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.

17:19You know, four school board members were removed from office also. The media doesn't ever want to report on that kind of stuff. It just doesn't make any sense to me, Andy. I mean, 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.

17:55That should have been the last freaking one. There shouldn't even be one. But the fact that it happened, that should have been it. 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 just it it fires me up to a point where it it it makes me lose respect for the states and the policymakers that aren't doing enough to save kids. and then they'll say they don't have the funds which is baloney you know what i mean it's all but yes they have the funds they just they don't put it in the right place you know that they got money to to to have a brand new football stadium right and but then they won't have nothing that has no security you know and then you talk even a private for some of that private school it really irked me they didn't have a secure any security there you're telling me the parents can't afford another couple hundred dollars tuition so they could they could have a police officer 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 uh in florida i you're gonna there's no way anyone's going there you know what i mean i 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 know where they don't have all the guards and the police and the rifles you know i i made sure that my temple is secure but i want to if there's anyone listening from these temples and churches um so this last week was a couple of jewish holidays i went and I was on the road.

19:52I 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's sitting in his car. What is he going to do sitting in his car? He's just going to take the first few shots. That's it. Make sure they're at front. You know, they don't want to sit, get a stool by the front door. The next place I went to was where the hell was I?

20:31I'm trying to think. I'm all over the place all the time. I went to another one, 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's 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 uh the next month to get the word out to these places of worship you know they think that they could trust this security that this sitting on his phone i couldn't believe it on his phone on the chair in the lobby like he's gonna like what are you gonna 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 i carry i go whatever 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.

21:45I 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 carry is a great thing, but speak up at these churches and details. If you see guys sit and 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. Yeah, that's just blatant complacency. Yeah, I don't like it. That's scary. And the pastors and the rabbis, you know, they think they're professionals. They're telling that they know what they're doing, but they're getting lazy.

22:23So 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. So having them speak up for their congregation. I mean, now's the time. I mean, you know, you look at a month ago in Minneapolis, you know, at the Catholic school and then last, what was it, last week at a Mormon? Michigan, can you believe it? The Mormons, really? My friend's a Mormon. I love the guy, Ryan Petty. He carries everywhere. He can't figure out some of these Mormons that they don't want, they don't take the security. That's serious. You know, they don't even want him carrying when he goes to Temple, I think they call it the Mormons.

23:07You got to God takes care of those who take care of themselves. That's what I tell them. You know, you got to 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've got security, you know, and they're not sitting on their ass either. You got to be you got to have your head on a swivel and speak up and whoever's listening. That brings up a good question. I have a great question for you. And I'm not coming at anybody. I just things that I've observed. Right. So when my children were in public school, they would have one deputy.

23:43Right. 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? Why? I mean, so my question is, is it's not just enough to have someone on campus, is it? They have to be. Not one, you know what I mean? One's not good. You know what I mean? It should be one in Florida, one per 500. But that's why I preach that you need under plainclothes, too. You don't want someone coming into the school or anyone, your church, a building.

24:23You 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. him or if it's someone 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's a big deterrent. Like, 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.

25:01where 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 can read it in the manifesto when these cowards pick where they pick. They pick it because it's a no-gun zone. We know, I don't know, the percentages. It's a high percentage of mass shootings that take place in no gun zones. 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.

25:45You 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, 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 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. No, I know exactly what you're saying. You know, you can preach so much. It's like a kind of a mental illness, you know?

26:27Like, really? Like, you think that if you put a no-gun zone sign at the fence leading into the school, that the criminal's 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 an invitation to evil to come into this building. It's an invitation. So, 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.

27:13So I oppose the no gun zones. It's the biggest, you know, it doesn't even make sense to me. There's not even a discussion, you know, because 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 a 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 that was it, right through the metal detector. And it just shows, you know, if you look at statistics, people that have concealed carry are law-abiding citizens.

28:03You 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, ah, 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. And 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.

28:36With 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. Their 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 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.

29:25I remember that, right? And so it's crazy because the more you and I chat, the more I remember about this tragedy. And I remember being so effing angry that that deputy, 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 reloaded and shot seven more times. The bullets went through my daughter and killed the girl underneath her. 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.

30:14Because on the second floor, everyone shut their doors and the blinds. So the killer walked right through the second floor. Who knows? You know, most of these guys are cowards. They either surrender or kill themselves. They don't even get into a firefight. You rarely see a firefight. They're always killing themselves or running away or they just put their hands up. So we'll 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 state really didn't do a good job in his case, I feel. Do you believe he should still get that pension?

30:54Yeah, he gets his pension. If we got him, what a balance is. No, do you believe it? My question is, though, do you believe he should? No. Because I don't think so. I don't think so. He should be in prison. You know what I mean? 1 ,000%. I don't know how he didn't just hang himself, the guy, after he did what he did. But you know what? He repeated this lie over and over again. 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. We have recordings. He's telling people not to go in the building.

31:28He's worried about traffic. he was worried about traffic why 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 him 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 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 his Bible. I don't really care for the guy that much.

32:06I don't like him. There was another bunch of deputies. They lost their jobs. The sheriff got removed. 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 at Broward. It's a tough county. It's a tough county to be a sheriff in, but he's doing a great job.