The public has a false impression about the responsibility of law enforcement, especially during a shooting, according to Marquez Claxton, director of the Black Law Enforcement Alliance.
A police officer's duty is to protect and preserve human life, including his or her own life and colleagues' lives, Claxton said. When everyone is running from danger, law enforcers understand that they run to the danger and sometimes through the danger.
But, he said, nothing is clear cut.
"There should be no expectation that there are disposable law enforcement officials who should immediately throw themselves in front of" gunfire, said Claxton, who is also a retired New York City Police Department detective.
"Sometimes, jumping in the midst of flying bullets is not the most tactical move," he added, even when officers are trained to protect and preserve.
Paul Martin, a defence lawyer and former prosecutor, predicted that the charges will have a chilling effect on people who wish to pursue law enforcement careers.
"There's the possibility of being prosecuted for being too aggressive and now, for not being aggressive enough. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't," he said.
Martin has represented police officers for crimes they were accused of committing, but he said it's "unheard of" for a police officer to be held criminally liable for not acting.
"If that's the case," he added, "how many other police shootings or where officers beat on or choke someone to death, where other officers are right there watching it happen. Very rarely do you see them indicted for nonaction, especially a year later."
Security-camera footage shows the former Broward deputy idling outside for four minutes as gunman Nikolas Cruz fatally shot 17 people and injured more. Some law enforcement professionals have said Peterson shirked his duties and that, perhaps, Peterson was not cut out for the risky job in the first place.
But professional responsibility is not interchangeable with criminal liability.
Peterson's perjury charge is clear cut, Martin said. According to the affidavit, Peterson not only failed to go inside but then lied about how many gunshots he heard after arriving at the school.
There's the possibility of being prosecuted for being too aggressive and now, for not being aggressive enough. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't
The other charges - seven counts for felony neglect of a child and three for culpable negligence - are more dubious. Prosecuting Peterson for not doing more poses a host of nuanced issues, legal experts say.
Florida's child neglect statute was not written to target officers, but to hold responsible children's "caregivers," which the state defines as "a parent, adult household member, or other person responsible for a child's welfare." Unlike police officers, caregivers do have a legal duty to respond and protect the children entrusted to them from harm.
Peterson's lawyer Joseph DiRuzzo says his client was not a caretaker, legally speaking.
Prosecutors may also run into hurdles in proving that Peterson demonstrated "gross recklessness" or "wanton disregard" for others.
Since the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School, there has been a sea change in policing, according to Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington think-tank that advises law enforcers on practices and policy.
Then, he said, police were trained to wait for backup and exercise a high degree of caution before acting. Today, 20 years later, police officers are being prosecuted for not rushing into a shooting situation faster.
According to a 2018 study of the Sheriff's Department in Palm Beach County, Florida, which is near Parkland, the Forum found that there was was ambiguity about how officers should act during shootings - whether they should wait for backup or rush inside.
