ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Orange County Sheriff says crime is down in the county — that decrease coming within the last three weeks since social distancing and stay-at-home orders were put in place.    

• ​Orange County Sheriff: In the last 3 weeks crime is down overall 30% 
• Service calls across the county are down 28%
• OCSO reports no arrests with county curfew but deputies have had to issue verbal warnings to non-essential businesses

“We are seeing definitely a significant decrease since the COVID virus hit here in this area,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said.

Sheriff Mina says in the last few weeks, overall crime is down 30 percent, while service calls are down about 28 percent.

Longtime community activist Sandra Fatmi has been on the frontlines, working to combat violence in the Pine Hills community of Orange County for nearly a decade.

While the downward trend comes during difficult times, she sees it as a sign of hope and promise for the future.

“I’m extremely ecstatic and excited about it because that is what we have been working for for years," Fatmi said. "I didn’t want it to be done that way, but that’s what we have been working for for years, we’ve been working to get the numbers down.”

Reducing crime, Sandra says, is a community effort. She has been working for years alongside the Orange County Sheriff’s Office to reduce crime, and still amid the COVID-19 crisis, Mina says his team of deputies are working to help people in the community in the safest way possible. 

“We are trying to maintain our distance on certain calls, and if possible we are asking people to come outside of their house to meet with our deputies if we are called there,” Mina said. 

“Of course wearing our personal protected equipment, masks and gloves, especially when we are dealing with someone who may have been infected.”  

In effort to keep crime down, Fatmi is calling on people in the community do their part, including keeping young people stuck indoors engaged.

“I had a couple of students say, 'oh my goodness, I’m so bored I feel like I want to mop the grass'," Fatmi said. "There is no moping of the grass, there are books to be read, there are fun things we can do, there are dance challenges, we have some of them going on right now on Facebook. We are going to continue the momentum, I am very hopeful.” 

Sheriff Mina says while most people have been complying with the county-enforced curfew, deputies have had to give verbal warnings to some non-essential business that were not supposed to be open to the public, per the stay-at-home order.