ORLANDO, Fla. – The top cop in Orlando said violent crime is down 8% since he took over the department five months ago.
Chief Eric Smith held a news conference Thursday to discuss his department’s efforts to reduce violent crime and build community involvement.
“Through reorganization and collaboration between units and the dedication of all members of this agency, we’re working together to accomplish this mission,” Smith said. “It’s all about the officers and their drive to make our community safer.”
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Smith said that reorganization has put more officers on the streets, which has led to more success.
Smith said his department has seen an 8% reduction in violent crime, including homicide, robbery, battery, sexual battery, carjacking and home invasions.
He said the multiple divisions in the agency have also worked to remove crime guns from the streets, with nearly 500 crime gun seizures in the last five months. Smith said that has led to a 12% decrease in the number of shootings throughout the city.
Smith also said the number of homicide cases solved has gone up since he took office. He said that between Sept. 1 and Feb. 1, there were 18 homicides and 16 were solved.
“Our clearance rate for homicide before I took over as chief was 37%. As of today, our clearance rate is up to 80%,” he said.
Talks about improving safety, especially in downtown Orlando, have been ongoing since last summer when seven people were shot near Wall Street.
No arrests have been made in the shooting yet.
Smith took over a couple months after the shooting. He says they have increased police staffing in the downtown area.
“A lot of guns that we do seize has come from our downtown area,” Smith said.
Smith also said they have seen an increase in gang activity throughout the city. They’re also seeing more young people involved with crime, with a 22% increase in youth committing crime.
“That’s where our gang unit comes into play and some of our other community relations meetings and groups come in,” Smith said.
“We have to look at why this is happening, it’s happening because they’re not getting some of the penalties they should get. Most juveniles know that if they do a violent crime when they’re 16 or 17, they’ll be right back out when they’re 18, so we have to look at that and how we can change that and make improvements to the juvenile justice system where there are penalties for doing violent crimes at a younger age,” Smith said.
State Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis filed a bill Tuesday that would make several changes to the juvenile justice system, including increasing how long offenders must stay in programs past 18.
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