Former Orlando Police Chief Discusses Security and Response Following Mass Shooting Downtown

ORLANDO, FL. – After Friday morning Deadly mass shooting in downtown OrlandoNews 6 spoke with former Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon, a law enforcement expert, to discuss safety measures in place during major events like Halloween, officer training that could prevent further tragedy and resources that could play a role in response.

Here is a fragment of the conversation:

Question: What kind of operational planning goes into preparing for a big night like Halloween?

Answer: Long before nightfall, preparations begin. But you should also keep in mind that it is not uncommon for large crowds of so many people to gather in the city center when there is a special occasion. Whether it’s Halloween, the Fourth of July, New Year’s Eve, these are big events for downtown and the police department is very used to working around them.

Question: Who is ultimately responsible for the ultimate safety of events in Downtown Orlando?

A: It’s a combination, right? You have the city of Orlando, you have the business community, and then you have legislation that governs both when it comes to whether some form of restriction needs to be applied to allow people on the property or to keep people off the property. territory, except when passing through a checkpoint.

So, I believe there will be further discussion to figure out where the obstacles are that may prevent a true checkpoint style exit environment from being created, so whenever you have such a big event happening, you should expect that you you will go through some type of checkpoint. But this is just one of many options the city and business community will have to consider.

Question: Have you had a chance to review the surveillance video we’ve seen from City of Orlando cameras over these intersections?

Answer: I saw what was released, apparently from your channel and other channels that aired it, the heroism shown by the officer who was closest to the perpetrator is commendable. The officer did not hesitate to realize that he had to act, and it was a split-second decision. Imagine if a person felt justified in shooting someone in the presence of officers. Needless to say, I think he would not have hesitated to fire the gun again, but fortunately, due to the actions of this officer, he was unable to do so.

Question: I want to talk about the training that is done in something like this. Trooper Steve Montiero called it a textbook example of what a police officer should do in a situation like this.

Answer: You know, when you watch the video and you see everyone running away from danger, the sound of gunshots and in the crowd you see officers running towards that danger – it should be a reminder that when officers take an oath to serve and protect, they do so taking into account the fact that they may risk their lives for the well-being and protection of others. In this case, the officers did what they were supposed to do. They heard shooting. They followed the sound of the threat, apparently to try to identify it and stop it as quickly as possible. It worked as intended; they were able to quickly get the person to safety, which again, in my opinion, prevented anyone else from being injured.

Question: Halloween adds an extra layer to police work because people wear masks and costumes.

Answer: Yes, and so, again, checkpoints are not the only answer, but at least have a system in place that allows for some type of metal detection. I think this requires further discussion.

Question: When you were chief of police in Orlando, they created special zones and implemented additional screening methods. Have you ever discovered any weapon or stopped any threat by having it in place?

A: No, I think what the department did then and continues to do now is to use a lot of its tactical units to actively monitor garages and places where, again, most often, some of these weapons were found. during either a concerted or probable search for the cause of a vehicle accident. Many of these guns have been removed from the streets.

Technology has also played a huge role. As technology continues to advance and become more accessible, more cameras are being deployed in these areas, which is a force multiplier for officers to keep an eye on what’s going on. There have been cases where people have literally shown everything they own, including weapons, in full view of the camera, not knowing that the camera is recording them. So all these things continue to be implemented. I would say it’s an evolving process. Just when you think you’ve checked everything, something like this happens, and it allows you to go back to the table and think again about how you can provide better lighting.

But in this case, there were about 100 officers in that small footprint. I’ve mentioned this a couple of times today – that’s more officers than some counties in the state of Florida have on duty on any given day for an entire county, and that’s the number of officers that were in that area. So the presence was great. The presence was there. However, unfortunately, this person (doesn’t) care. Apparently, even using any other method to try and identify someone like him in the area, he didn’t care. He came to do something, committed a crime and went on to commit a second, terrible crime, not far from the first.

Q: During your tenure, there was a plan to create a real-time crime center in Orlando. Explain what it is and how the technology you talked about affects it.

A: This was a game changer for the Orlando Police Department. This made it possible to place cameras in places such as the city center. It became a force multiplier. Officers behind the camera screens were able to identify potential conflicts in the making, meaning, just like in the bar, a fight was about to break out, allowing officers to be dispatched before the first 911 call was received. talk of getting the business community to partner with them and bring in their cameras so that costs can now be cut and allow limited access to some cameras in establishments. Whether this happened or not, I don’t know. At that time, this idea was supported, but I don’t know whether it came to fruition or not. But crime centers are becoming increasingly popular throughout the country. Orlando has one of the most advanced crime centers, so it’s likely that much of the footage you saw and the Orlando Police Department’s ability to release that video as quickly as they did is partly related to the crime center. .

You can watch the extended interview between Lisa Bell and former Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon in the media player at the top of this story.