Orlando Police Chief John Mina openly admits over the past 18 months, there’s been five excessive force cases investigated in his department. That includes the most recent case last week that centers around a video which appears to show an Orlando Police officer repeatedly kicking a suspect.
“I will tell you, there’s a lot more to the whole incident than just that short video but that’s why we’re investigating it. That’s why we’ve given it to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. No one is sitting up here condoning those actions, that’s why we do an investigation," Chief Mina explained.
Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith took over his department after 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in 2012.
Chief Smith said the type of training his officers received from the Department of Justice can help officers overcome their preconceived notions about certain people.
“We’re grown into our implicated bias but one of the things that we have to learn is to put them aside. And once we put those things aside, we’ll actually have the ability to resolve a lot of the issues and things that are out there,"said Smith.
Chief Mina, Chief Smith and several others all participated in The Unity in the Community Law Enforcement panel, which was co-hosted by Star 94.5 and News 96.5.
One of the panelists, former Orange and Osceola County Chief Judge Belvin Perry implored citizens to think twice in the heat of the moment.
“When you encounter a law enforcement officer and you think he or she may have done you wrong, your court is not there at the arrest scene. Your court is someplace else, internal affairs or someplace else, nothing good happens when you escalate a situation," explained Perry.
“I think we’ve got to hold ourselves accountable but at the same time, there’s an external force that has to be held accountable too," added Michael Saunders, Star 94.5 Director of Branding and Programming.
Community leaders also implored residents to trust that CRIMELINE is anonymous, even when you make a complaint about a particular law enforcement officer's conduct or use of force.
“We have an attorney on board with us who will do whatever we need to do, to protect those tips," shared Crimeline Executive Director Barb Bergin.
Meanwhile, Chief Mina defended his department saying excessive force complaints are down about 10 percent. However, Mina said it may not seem like it because everyone has a video camera.
“It’s not that we’re using more force throughout our nation. I think it’s becoming more prevalent because you are seeing a lot more video. You will continue to see more video, there’s 387 million cell phones out there. We are equipping officers with body cameras so you’re going to see more police using force in certain situations, where before you may have heard about it but you haven’t seen the video," Mina said.