ZACK SCOTT

Zack Scott began his career with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO) in March of 2000.  Broward County has nearly 2 million residents and BSO is the largest fully accredited Sheriff’s Office in the United States with nearly 6,000 employees.  During his nearly 26-year law enforcement career with BSO, Zack has worked in some of the busiest and most violent areas of South Florida.  Zack has had the unique and rare experience of investigating some of the most high-profile homicide cases that have occurred in the entire country during this century.  While assigned to the BSO Homicide Unit, Zack was the Co-Lead Detective on the deadliest high school shooting in the history of the United States.  On February 14th, 2018, a total of 14 high school students and three staff members were shot and killed by a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.  A total of 17 other victims were shot by the suspect and thankfully, they survived their wounds.  Zack played a pivotal role in the investigation and prosecution of the suspect in that case.  Zack has also been the lead detective on numerous other high profile murder cases that he was able to solve, including several serial killer cases. As a result of his outstanding service to the South Florida Community, Zack has received numerous Commendations, Awards and Citations throughout his career.  In 2018, Zack received the prestigious honor of being selected as the Detective of the Year.  

 

Due to his proven expertise as an investigator and his comprehensive understanding of law enforcement procedures, examining crime scenes and how modern technology and resources can be applied to solving cases, Zack has become an extremely popular presenter at law enforcement symposiums around the country.  Zack has been a guest presenter at the National Homicide Investigators Association National Conference on two different occasions.  Zack has also been a  guest presenter at the FEMA National Disaster Preparedness Symposium, the Miami-Dade High Profile Homicide Case Symposium and at the FBI National Academy Alumni Conferences for both the New York State Chapter and the Georgia State Chapter.  Zack’s work as an investigator in the BSO Homicide Unit and as an original member of the full-time BSO Cold Case Investigations Unit, has brought closure to countless families across South Florida and extended family members around the world.  Time and time again, Zack has been able to finally provide these families with answers, justice and a finality in resolving what are always difficult and tragic situations.  In addition to his many accomplishments as an investigator, Zack has also had a profound impact on the careers of numerous Local, State and Federal Law Enforcement Officers through his talents as a well-respected instructor.   

 

Upon graduating from the Police Academy, Zack was assigned to the Patrol Operations Division as a Deputy Sheriff.  His supervisors immediately recognized Zack’s work ethic, report writing abilities, decision making and interpersonal skills and they enrolled him in a class to become a Certified Field Training Deputy (FTD).  As an FTD, Zack was responsible for supervising, training and evaluating newly hired officers in applying their knowledge and skills in real-world policing situations.  Zack’s excellent performance as an FTD was recognized by his command staff and after only a couple of years on road patrol, he was selected to become a Detective in the Property Crimes Unit.  During his time as a Detective assigned to the Property Crimes Unit, Zack investigated Part I Felony Crimes such as burglaries, grand thefts, auto thefts, fraud and identity theft.  

 

After spending several years as a Detective investigating a variety of cases, Zack was recruited to become a member of the elite BSO Training Division as an Instructor.  Zack was honored to accept this position and for the next six years, he was responsible for conceiving, developing and implementing applicable courses to enhance the performance of all the sworn law enforcement officers in the agency and to assure their performance and proficiency was up to departmental standards at all in-service trainings.  Zack’s experience as an Instructor in the BSO Training Division is what led him to identify exactly what he wanted to do when he retired from police work.  Zack genuinely loves helping the next generation of law enforcement officers by passing on his invaluable experience and his institutional knowledge and those qualities are what made him a perfect fit for Semper Veritas Police Training and Consulting, LLC.

 

In 2013, Zack was chosen to become a member of the highly regarded BSO Homicide Unit.  For more than seven years, Zack was a Lead Detective or an Assisting Detective in hundreds of various death investigations.  These death investigations included homicides, suicides, overdoses, unattended deaths, baby deaths, police-involved shooting cases for both BSO personnel and other local law enforcement agencies, airplane crashes, industrial accidents, in-custody deaths and many others.  In 2019, BSO formed the Cold Case Investigations Unit.  Due to his exceptional performance while assigned to the Homicide Unit, Zack was selected to become a part of this new and specialized unit.  For more than five years, Zack worked tirelessly searching for even the smallest clues and applying the newest resources and modern technology that could possibly solve an open and unsolved homicide case or help to identify what were previously unidentified remains or assist with locating homicide suspects that had become fugitives.      

In addition to his professional achievements, Zack has made it a priority to continue his formal education.  This commitment led to Zack receiving his Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications from the University of Central Florida.  Zack is also a Certified Instructor through the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission (CJSTC) of the State of Florida.  While assigned to the BSO Homicide Unit, Zack completed the Force Science Certification Course from the Force Science Institute.  Zack is now recognized as a Certified Force Science Analyst.  This course involves very specialized training that teaches its students how to recognize and analyze human dynamics during force encounters such as psychological, biological and physiological factors that impact behavior and memory.  This advanced and specialized training was incredibly important for Zack as he was ultimately responsible for investigating numerous police-involved shootings throughout Broward County.  Although Zack is extremely proud of his career with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, the thing that he is the proudest of is what he has been able to accomplish as a mentor to so many friends and colleagues through the years by playing some role in helping them to achieve their personal and/or professional goals.  In retirement, Zack will continue his priority of “giving back to the next generation” by being a full-time instructor with Semper Veritas Police Training and Consulting, LLC.