Demings to lay out plan for curbing violence in crime-plagued Pine Hills

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Channel 9 received an advanced look Monday at how Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings plans to combat crime in Pine Hills.

Demings is expected to lay out his plan Tuesday during a workshop with county leaders.

A Sheriff’s Office spokesman said Demings is finalizing his presentation, so he couldn't provide specifics, but he did reveal that the sheriff plans to discuss four main points.

One of the reasons for Demings’ plan: a violent end to 2016 in Pine Hills. There were 12 shootings in the neighborhood between Oct. 23 and Dec. 16.

Five innocent people died during that time, including a barber, a dialysis center worker and a mother seated in a car outside a gas station.

Not long after those murders, city and county leaders created Operation Rise to add more Orlando police officers on the streets and to increase accessibility to Orange County deputies through a mobile substation.

Since the operation launched, resident Melvin Phillips said things appear to be improving in the neighborhood.

“It's kind of nice to see your neighbors again,” he said.

At the same time the operation began, a nine-day manhunt began in and around the same community for accused cop killer Markeith Loyd.

One week after that search ended, Demings is expected to talk about other ways to combat violence in the crime-plagued neighborhood.

Though specifics of the sheriff's presentation aren’t known, the Sheriff’s Office said it will focus on historical Pine Hills crime statistics, a four-pronged approach to combating crime, results of Operation Rise and future initiatives in the area.

Residents such as Dylon Santana said he hopes those initiatives go beyond just adding officers on the streets. He wants to leaders to focus more on mentoring.

“If we actually sit down and talk and get the problems out of the way, then we can make something happen,” he said.

Cox Media Group