A tough-talking Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said on Wednesday, total crimes, to date, have declined significantly in Orange County, and he expects this trend to continue through to the end of 2010. Demings, who was delivering an update and overview of crime in the county, also had good news for the Pine Hills Community, where total crimes are down 14 percent, in line with a similar decline in 2009.
Praising the work of his deputies for the success achieved in reducing overall crime by 17 percent in Orange County, Demings added though, such gains could not have been achieved without good support from the community. Except for homicides which have increased by 19 percent, Demings noted there have been declines in every other offense including robbery (-13%), commercial burglary (-13%), residential burglary (-0.6%) and auto burglary (-27%) in 2010.
But, even as Demings expressed his satisfaction with the reduction in crimes throughout the county, including the Pine Hills area, he issued a pointed warning to criminal elements in the community.
“If you get involved in robbing people, we are coming after you. We don’t care where you are, who you are–we are coming after you”, Demings said. “We will continue to be vigilant in neighborhoods and in business districts and as we close out 2010, my focus remains on reducing crime and keeping our citizens safe.”
In line with his laser-like focus on crime reduction, Demings referenced the arrests of two suspects on Tuesday night believed to be responsible for recent commercial armed robberies and noted that, it was through good investigative efforts by the TAC Surveillance Squad and the Robbery Unit, two convicted felons were now off of Orange County streets.
Demings said, despite the several challenges being faced by OSCO–the tough economy in general and OCSO budget cuts in particular–his deputies were getting the job done. But he warned, the agency could not continue to do more with less and if cuts persisted there could well come a time when OCSO does less with less. In this connection, the Sheriff referenced a recent arrangement with the Orange County Commission whereby, any unspent monies returned to the county by OCSO, would be given back to the agency the following year.
Rejecting the recent claim by the Orlando Sentinel’s board that there is a delay in holding himself and his deputies accountable, Demings, as indicated in his guest column in the paper on Tuesday, reiterated, “I am not afraid to hold my people or myself accountable, but I will not become a puppet. The community deserves an independent, but responsive sheriff.”
Demings, as he delivered his crime overview at the Empowerment Ministries Building in Pine Hills, was flanked by his deputies, Captains Dave Ogedon and Mike Doby. He was also joined by several pillars of the Pine Hills community, including President-Pine Hills Community Council, Ms. Bertina Busch; Bishop Brian Cobaris of the Empowerment Ministries and Chairman of the Central Florida Urban League, Michael Lewellen.
