Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Chief Val Demings briefed members of the media on Thursday, December 17th on the accomplishments of and challenges faced by the Orlando Police Department (OPD) in 2009.
Mayor Dyer in his introductory remarks noted that OPD had taken the battle against crime to the streets and that emphasis had been placed on the confiscation of crime guns, which had proven to be quite successful.
Chief Demings informed that, the department’s over-riding goals for 2009 were to reduce violent crimes and to remove crime guns from the streets in Orlando and in this connection, OPD had made serious in-roads.
Demings opined that, total violent crimes had decreased by 33.8 percent in 2009 over 2008, a significant reduction from 2008 over 2007, when violent crimes were down by 10 percent.
Specifically, homicides had declined by 46.5 percent in 2009 over 2008 and now stand at 23 year-to-date. This compared with an increase in homicides of more than 10 percent in 2008 over the previous year.
Similarly, the Chief pointed out that robberies had dropped by 42.2 percent in 2009 to 705 over 2008, compared with a decline of 14 percent in 2008 over 2007.
Other crime statistics demonstrating the major gains in 2009 are:
* Rapes which continued its downward trend and dropped 13.7 percent to 113, over 2008
* Aggravated Assaults which declined by more than three times the amount — a 27.3 percent drop in 2009 over 2008, when compared to an 8 percent decline the previous year.
According to the Chief, in 2009, some 966 guns had been removed, year-to-date, an increase of 35.4 percent over 2008 and up from 9 percent the previous year. She explained that, various measures, including literally “beating the bushes” had been deployed in confiscating crime guns.
Demings referenced the several special violent crime initiatives that had been launched and which had proven to be very successful in supporting the broader crime strategy. These included: Operation Free Palms, Operation New Sheriff in Town, Operation Willow Bend, Operation Rolling Steel and Operation Fall Harvest
The Chief informed that OPD’s success in tackling crime during 2009 had much to do with the greater partnerships that had been fostered between several agencies and departments including, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, OCSO, ATF, the State Attorney’s Office, and the Federal Department of Juvenile Justice, among others. As well, she referenced the social networking which aims at reaching and communicating with the younger generation. The Chief also noted too, the greater use being made of technology to support police officers in achieving greater success, including the computerization of field reporting.
Among the challenges faced in 2009, Demings made reference to potential budget cuts, which led to the elimination of some non-sworn positions and the re-organization of the department.
In looking ahead toward 2010, Demings noted that, priorities would be focused on continuing to reduce violent crime, the removal of crime guns from the streets, training, community-based initiatives, enhanced efforts toward crime free multi-housing and increased use of technology tools.
By any objective measure, it could be said that OPD and its Chief Val Demings had a great year, gaining substantial ground on reducing crimes in Orlando.
I will agree it is a great year when you get your statistics straight by identifying HISPANICS who are arrested as H on your arrest reports instead of WHITE, because the arrests of WHITE MALES is disproportionally high (higher than black, Hispanic or Asian arrests)