Orlando to spend more than $850K to review police policy, improve community relations

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando took a step toward improving community policing after the city announced it was bringing in outside groups as part of the community trust and equity initiative.

The Orlando City Council approved more than $850,000 to, as Mayor Buddy Dyer put it, “take a look under the hood at OPD.”

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The city already took steps to improve policing as a response to protests that erupted this summer after the death of George Floyd.

The Orlando police banned chokeholds, no-knock warrants and updated its response to resistance policy. Now it will have former police help craft additional improvements.

These protests in Orlando, and across the country, moved cities to try to improve policing.

Orlando is hiring two consultants to help bridge the gap between the police and community.

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The biggest contract of nearly $800,000 would bring in the Bowman Group, a police consulting company ran by a former Texas police chief.

The Bowman Group team will travel to Orlando, and over eight months, review OPD policing data, policies and practices.

During the ninth month, the city should receive a comprehensive report including reform recommendations and how to track if changes are working.

“I think community engagement really critical,” Dyer said. The Bethune-Cookman University Center for Law and Social Justice will handle that part of the equation.

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At first, the university was tasked only with providing training for officers but also people in the Parramore and Washington Shores communities.

The goal of all this is to make policing better and safer for officers, but also the people they have sworn to protect and serve.

BCU’s training and community action plan should be complete by spring and the Bowman Group review should be available then or by summer 2021.

Cox Media Group