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Getting Results on Crime: Inside look at Orlando police's TAC unit

Tactical Anti-Crime begins its day deep inside Orlando Police Department headquarters in a basement room called TAC bay.

Pictures of handguns, rifles, stacks of cash, piles of marijuana and cocaine - all confiscated - line the walls above the desks.

"A lot of it happens from simple traffic stops," said Lt. Chad Ochiuzzo, TAC's leader. "A lot of the pictures you see up here are from a traffic infraction that turns into a search of someone's vehicle so this is what we discover. What people don't necessarily see all the time is the traffic stop leads to the great work on this wall."

It's 11 a.m. All of the desks are empty.

"All the desks are empty because they're all out catching bad guys, and that's a good thing," said Ochiuzzo.

TAC spends its days and nights on Orlando streets, most of the time in an unmarked patrol car, most of the time doing traffic stops.

"Our unit is covert, we don't want to be seen until it's time to be seen," said Ochiuzzo. "We're driving around looking to see who's out riding around, what's going on, and we're here to find out why some of these people are out."

Ochiuzzo said traffic stops lead to searches and searches lead to guns, interrupting criminals from getting where they're going.

"The reality is we're out here to make it uncomfortable for people looking to commit crimes," said Ochiuzzo.

Wednesday morning, in a matter of minutes, one TAC unit stopped two vehicles for traffic violations on Orlando's troubled Ivey Lane and a search of both cars revealed hidden marijuana. The marijuana was confiscated and the drivers were allowed to leave because no other violations were discovered.

Ochiuzzo said TAC isn't looking to give people a hard time.

"We're seeing a small percentage of people committing violent crimes, and that's who we're looking to target, and that's who we're often coming across in these cars," said Ochiuzzo.

Ochiuzzo said when there's a spike in crime, TAC is directed to combat the trend and focus on a problem area, whether it's a neighborhood or apartment complex.


About the Author
Erik von Ancken headshot

Erik von Ancken anchors and reports for News 6 and is a two-time Emmy award-winning journalist in the prestigious and coveted "On-Camera Talent" categories for both anchoring and reporting.