ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said in a statement to Channel 9 that he is directing the city’s police chief to complete a thorough review of the department’s traffic stop protocols after a 9 Investigates report detailed how a traffic stop escalated to an officer placing their knee on a man’s neck.
Investigative reporter Daralene Jones brought video of the incident to the attention of both Orlando police Chief Orlando Rolon and Mayor Buddy Dyer for her report, which aired Monday. Click here or scroll down to watch it in full.
“When I saw this video, I was concerned and believe it speaks to the conversations about policing happening across the country,” Dyer said in a statement sent to Channel 9 Tuesday. “It raises several questions for me, including how does a traffic stop escalate like this and what kind of de-escalation techniques could have prevented this from happening?”
Orlando police Chief Orlando Rolon defended and provided explanations for the officers' actions when he invited Jones to police headquarters to review body camera videos after Channel 9 sent his office cellphone video of the incident.
READ: Orlando police chief says department has banned no-knock warrants, chokeholds
Dyer said in his statement that he has directed Rolon to complete a thorough review of the department’s traffic stop protocols “to ensure that they are not only necessary, but also equitable for everyone we serve.” Dyer said he also directed the chief to work on enhancing training to “emphasize and ensure that all measures to de-escalate a situation are taken during citizen interactions.”
Mayor Dyer instructs Orlando Police Chief to complete a thorough review of traffic stop protocols as a result of our reporting.
— Daralene (@DaraleneJ) July 7, 2020
Full response from Mayor below.
Full story here: https://t.co/2xJwKJvfqs pic.twitter.com/NXMgwAog8b
You can read Dyer’s full statement on the below:
“When I saw this video, I was concerned and believe it speaks to the conversations about policing happening across the country. It raises several questions for me, including how does a traffic stop escalate like this and what kind of de-escalation techniques could have prevented this from happening?
I believe we need to prevent this from happening in the future in our city and I have directed Police Chief Orlando Rolón to complete a thorough review of our traffic stop protocols to ensure that they are not only necessary, but also equitable for everyone we serve.
I have also directed the Chief to immediately begin working on enhancing training to emphasize and ensure that all measures to de-escalate a situation are taken during citizen interactions.
Additionally, earlier this week, we took action to ban all choke holds, ban no-knock warrants and change our Response to Resistance policy in a manner that will help further ensure our procedures are in line with the expectations I am hearing from members of our community.
Moving forward, I remain committed to continuing to listen, continuing to take action and continuing to make change that our community wants and we need.”
Watch Channel 9′s full interview with Rolon below:
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