ORLANDO, Fla. — New details about what Orlando Police Chief John Mina said about his participation in so-called "milk runs" have been uncovered by 9 Investigates.
In November, Channel 9's Kathi Belich exposed a lawsuit that uncovered a ritual in which high-ranking Orlando police officers would cruise around downtown while they were on duty, looking for attractive women.
Mina gave his version under oath during a deposition last year, but months later, after Channel 9 broke the story and the city opened an investigation, the chief put a completely different spin on the milk runs, Belich learned in new records.
Despite the contradictions, the city eagerly and gratefully accepted his new explanation, Belich said.
Mina has already received an oral reprimand after admitting that he and other high-ranking members of the force participated in the milk runs.
"I don't think that's enough," Orlando resident Rebecca Oberg said. "I think there needs to be something else other than putting on the record that this has happened."
Belich on Thursday a transcript of Mina's April 2014 testimony in front of city lawyers during a lawsuit deposition in which he described the milk runs this way: "That's basically, after lunch, on the way back from lunch to the office, turn down Orange Avenue to look at women."
But the city did not investigate until Channel 9 broke the story seven months later, in November 2014.
The city's chief administrative officer on Wednesday sent his findings to the chief in a letter that contradicts Mina's story.
Mina's second version said milk runs were "primarily to give extra attention to this heavily trafficked pedestrian area" and that "social cruising was not the primary purpose of this patrol." Instead, he said, it was "an opportunity to enhance law enforcement presence."
The city said Mina apologized for embarrassing the city and acknowledged that milk runs could be viewed as demeaning and sexist.