ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The Orange County Citizens Safety Task Force reconvened Friday to discuss the best ways to approach keeping the community safe.
“We are asking each of you to help us help you,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said. “When the work of this task force is completed — or, this reconstitution of the task force — the work that you will do, the recommendations that you will make, will live on, because this work is work that will continue, likely forever.”
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Demings was joined by Orange County Sheriff John Mina and Orlando police Chief Eric Smith at the 1:30 p.m. task force meeting.
Leaders discussed the 2021 Task Force report, as well as possible modifications and funding recommendations.
The task force, comprised of diverse community members aiming to tackle longstanding problems, was formed in 2020 after a string of deadly shootings in Orange County.
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The group has since been active in the wake of another string of shootings in Pine Hills in February, which resulted in the deaths of of Nathacha Augustin, 38; T’yonna Major, 9; and Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons, 24. The 9-year-old girl’s mother and a Spectrum News 13 photographer Jesse Walden were also injured in the shootings.
This meeting comes after Mina and Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell met to discuss youth violence and needed solutions at a luncheon put on by Tiger Bay Club of Central Florida on Monday.
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