ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Wednesday marks six months since Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons, 9-year-old T’Yonna Major, and 20-year-old Nathacha Augustin lost their lives in a shooting spree in Pine Hills.
The day after these killings, Orange County re-convened a safety task force to come up with ideas on how to reduce violent crime in our community. Tuesday, county commissioners officially signed off on those recommendations.
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Some of them include installing more street cameras, expanding gun safety education courses and coordinating with mental health providers to increase the number of providers in areas.
Among the recommendations Orange County commissioners accepted Tuesday is one to review the impact of the Credible Messengers program and determine if additional funding is needed. The county is looking to bring in more supportive services for victims of crimes, family members of victims and those who witness crimes.
The task force received over 2,500 responses to their community crime survey.
One of the big findings was people want to see an expansion of mentor and intervention programs for youth.
“Credible Messengers” can be former criminal gang members and other what the county described as “street-wise” individuals who work directly with youth in underserved parts of town. They serve as their unique mentors.
It’s a program county leaders said is working. Commissioners also spoke about the need for more help in cases where victims experience trauma.
When asking questions to task force members, Commissioner Mike Scott spoke about a shooting this past Saturday where one woman was killed and two people were injured in Orlando’s SODO neighborhood. Scott said he mentors one of the people injured in that shooting.
“This young man Facetimed one of his other mentors—and said, ‘hey, I’ve been shot,’ before he even called police,” Scott said.
Commissioner Nicole Wilson says the program depends on getting enough Credible Messengers trained and certified.
“Sometimes, victims become perpetrators so fast, and it can happen so fast. My discussions with some of our Credible Messenger providers now have been incredible. They’ve said if we can get there in time, we can really do something,” Wilson said.
County staff will have to determine how much money should be allocated to the program and where that funding will come from. Back in June, the Citizens Safety Task Force unanimously recommended allocating more money to the program.
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