ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon said he’s invested into making sure his department is even more transparent after an independent review of his agency found that OPD lacks data collection.
That nearly year-long review, done by former Texas police chief Dr. Theron Bowman, found, in part, that Orlando police do not document and collect data on all traffic stops and the department does not require documentation of searches, including things like why someone was stopped and their demographic data.
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The chief said even though his department is accredited, he’s all for transparency.
“The data collection will be the number one priority, I believe,” Rolon said. “I see it as an opportunity for us to improve the way we do business.”
Rolon said he’s putting together a team to discuss how to move forward with data collection, but he knows it’s a challenge.
“It’s easy to say we want to improve the data but it takes a lot of IT support, dedicated staffing and a lot of changes with our platforms,” Rolon said.
News 6 investigators reported back in May that the Florida Highway Patrol already has software called the traffic stop data report. That’s where troopers are required to fill out demographic data at every traffic stop, including why they pulled someone over. FHP says it helps when it comes to complaints against troopers, and they can isolate trends for traffic stops and arrests.
“I will be working with chief to move forward,” Orlando City Commissioner Regina Hill said.
Hill said data collection within OPD is crucial.
“I do like more data, to have had more data to find out if there was some racial inequities and disparities,” Hill said.
Hill also said she wants to see more funding in place to modernize technology for data collection. Rolon saying again this data will be game changer for OPD.