All Hands on Deck !!
- From: jgrove24@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:49:34 -0700
Some of the Orlando Police Department's top brass will be leaving
their desks and going back on patrol to combat violent crime.
'Operation All Hands On Deck' calls for 88 officers, from the patrol
ranks to the chief himself, to get back on the beat.
The officers were assigned to some familiar neighborhoods, some of the
same areas tactical squads began concentrating on roughly nine months
ago. The problem is, those tact squads weren't seeing significant
drops in violent crime.
The Kirkman Road corridor, Rosemont, Parramore, Mercy Drive and
downtown Orlando are five areas with 25 high-crime zones. Residents
and visitors are about to see an influx of Orlando police patrol
officers over the next month in a new initiative coined 'All Hands On
Deck.'
"We feel strongly, if we put a patrol car out there, someone on foot,
whatever, we can deter, prevent or, if a crime happens, identify it
extremely rapidly," said Police Chief Michael McCoy.
McCoy even plans to spend some time on bike patrol around the downtown
area.
Shan Joseph lives in another hot zone off Mercy Drive, where there've
been 220 aggravated assaults and 209 residential break-ins since the
beginning of the year. She and her neighbors have been fortunate not
to be victims of crime, but she said more officers on the street
couldn't hurt.
"Crime is everywhere. We shouldn't be afraid of crime, we should just
support each other," she said.
Eyewitness News meet one of Joseph's neighbors, who was more hesitant
to be on camera. She hadn't heard of 'All Hands On Deck,' but said she
and her family have hit the deck in recent weeks when they heard
gunfire.
"This has been imbedded in this community for a while. So it's not
just going to go away overnight," she said.
Orlando police will still perform their regular duties most of the
week. But during the time they're patrolling a hot zone, barring a
major emergency, officers will stay in that zone for the entire shift.
Even if the officer makes an arrest, another officer will transport
the suspect to the jail.
The operation ends July 7th.
.
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