ORLANDO, Fla. – In the wake of Friday morning’s deadly mass shooting in downtown Orlando, News 6 spoke with former Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon, a law enforcement expert, to discuss security measures in place for large events like Halloween, officer training that may have prevented further tragedy and the resources that could have played a role in the response.
Here’s a look a portion of the conversation:
Q: What kind of operational planning goes into preparing for a big night like Halloween?
A: Well in advance of the night, the preparations begin. But you also have to keep in mind that it is not unusual for the downtown area to have large crowds of this magnitude whenever a special occasion comes around. Whether it’s Halloween, July Fourth, New Year’s Eve — those are big events for downtown in the city, and the police department is very used to working those.
Q: Who is ultimately responsible for the final level of security 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 the legislation by which both are governed when it comes to the need to exercise some form of restriction to allow people into an area, or not allow people into an area unless they go through a checkpoint.
So, I believe that there will be further discussion to figure out where the obstacles are that could prevent a true checkpoint-style egress environment, so that whenever you have a large event like this, the expectation should be that you will go through some type of checkpoint. But that’s just one of probably many options that the city and the business community will have to weigh in on.
Q: Have you had a chance to review the surveillance video that we have seen from the city of Orlando cameras over those intersections?
A: I saw what has been released from, obviously, your outlet and other outlets that have aired it, the heroics displayed by the officer who was closest to the gunman -- that is commendable. The officer, without hesitation, knew that he had to take action, and that was a split-second decision. Just imagine if the individual felt empowered to shoot and kill someone in the presence of the officers. Needless to say, I think he would not have hesitated to fire his gun again and, thankfully, because of this officer’s actions, he was not able to do so.
Q: I want to talk about the training that goes into something like this. Trooper Steve Montiero called it a textbook example of what a police officer should do in a situation like that.
A: You know when you see the video and you see everyone running away from the danger, the sound of gunfire, and among the crowd, you see the officers running toward that danger — that should be a reminder that when officers take an oath to serve and protect, they’re doing so and also taking into consideration the fact that they may be putting their lives on the line for the welfare and protection of others. In this case, the officers did what they were supposed to do. They heard gunfire. They went toward the sound of the threat, obviously, to try to identify it and stop it as quickly as possible. It worked as it was intended; they were able to quickly secure the individual, which again, in my opinion, prevented from someone else from getting hurt.
Q: Halloween adds an additional layer when it comes to policing because you have people wearing masks and in costumes.
A: It does, and that’s why, again, it’s not the only answer – checkpoints — but at least having a system that allows for some type of metal detection to take place. I think it warrants further discussion.
Q: When you were Orlando police chief, there were some special zones set up, and additional screening methods were underway. Did you ever uncover any weapons or foil any threats by having that in place?
A: No, I think what the department did then, and continues to do now, is use a lot of their tactical squads to go out and proactively monitor garages and places where, again, more often than not, some of these guns were recovered during either a consensual or probable-cause to search a vehicle incident. Many of these guns were removed off the streets.
Technology has also played a huge part. As technology continues to evolve and become more affordable, more cameras are being applied to areas such as this — which is a force multiplier — so that officers can monitor the activity. There have been cases where individuals are literally showing what they have, as far as their weapons in plain view of a camera, not knowing that the camera is recording them. So, all of those things continue to be implemented. I would say that it’s an evolving process. When you think you have it all checked off, something like this happens, and it allows you to go back to the table to revisit how you can provide better coverage.
But in this case, 100 officers or so were in that small footprint. I have mentioned this a couple of times already today -- that’s more than, on any given day, some counties in the state of Florida have on duty for the entire county, and that amount of officers were in the area. So, the presence was great. The presence was there. Unfortunately, though, that individual could (not) care less. Even with any other method to try to identify someone like him in the area, he didn’t care, it appears. He came to do something, committed a crime and continued on to commit a second, horrific crime not too far from the first one.
Q: During your tenure, Orlando’s real-time crime center was envisioned. Explain exactly what that is and how the technology that you’ve been talking about plays into that.
A: It was a game-changer for the Orlando Police Department. It allowed for cameras to be deployed out to places such as the downtown area. It became a force multiplier. Officers behind the camera screens were able to identify potential conflicts in the making, meaning, like a bar, a fight was about to break out, which then allowed for officers to be dispatched before the first 911 call was received. At the time, there was also talk about engaging the business community to partner with them and bring in their cameras so that now that expense can be reduced and allow restricted access to some of the cameras in establishments. Whether that has happened or not, I don’t know. It was an idea that was embraced at the time, but I don’t know whether it came through or not. But, crime centers are becoming more and more popular across the country. Orlando has one of the state-of-the-art crime centers, so probably a lot of that footage you saw and the Orlando Police Department’s ability to release that video as quickly as they did, in part, has to do with 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 very top of this story.