ORLANDO, Fla. — The committee tasked with reviewing the Orange County Sheriff’s Office’s policy plans to recommend more changes to their use of force policy in the near future.
What You Need To Know
- Sheriff Mina holds OCSO Citizen Advisory Committee meeting
- Committee makes policy recommendations at monthly meeting
- Chairman of group wants protesters to be at the meetings
- RELATED: As George Floyd's Death Sparks Global Movement, Leaders Urge People to Sustain Momentum
Chairman of the Orange County Sheriff’s Citizen Advisory Committee Allie Braswell Jr. and his colleagues meet monthly to review and recommend policy changes to the sheriff’s office.
As a black man, Braswell says he identifies with those protesting because of racial injustice by police.
“I still leave my home and have that concern as I go out into the community, my interaction with law enforcement. Will it be a positive one? Will I return from it?” Braswell said.
He says the death of George Floyd highlights the need for their committee.
Tuesday, Orange County Sheriff John Mina highlighted some of the things they’ve heard from protesters that the sheriff’s office already doesn’t do, like using chokeholds when controlling a subject.
Mina also discussed how they added the peer intervention requirement to their use of force policy.
However, Braswell and other committee members say Orange County’s use of force policy needs even further revisions.
“Those are policies we want to see further defined and incorporated into the use of force policy,” Braswell said.
Protesters in Central Florida have called for greater oversight of law enforcement by committees like this one. But this committee only has the power to make recommendations, and it's up to the Sheriff to implement them.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina says he's already taken recommendations from this committee and implemented them, so he doesn’t see a reason to change that.
“I don’t have any issue with taking recommendations from them and implementing them,” Mina said.
Tuesday’s meeting was open to public comments, but no one from the public showed up.
Braswell says he hopes protesters will make their voices heard in these meetings just as much as in the streets.
“You have to be seated at the table in order to have a dialogue and a conversation, and the only way we bring about change is to have dialogue,” Braswell said.
But some on social media said they had no idea the meeting was even taking place. The sheriff’s office says they gave proper notice on their website but did not post on social media about it.
Now the committee is tasked with coming up with recommendations to change or further define the sheriff’s office use of force policy at their next meeting and subsequent meetings.
Their next meeting is on July 11.