ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando’s police department has a new leader.
Police Chief Eric Smith is taking over at a time when gun crime plagues the city and officer recruitment and retention is a problem.
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Channel 9 anchor Daralene Jones sat down with him for an interview where nothing was off-limits.
Smith was candid about his focus: reducing violent crime and increasing community engagement.
Read excerpts from the interview below:
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Early life and career
Growing up a military brat, Smith has lived all over the world. The University of Central Florida football team lured him to Orlando when he graduated high school on Camp Lejeune Marine base in North Carolina.
“Learned I was not the best football player and had a lot of injuries, so I was looking for something, a major that worked for me. I started with the radio and TV and realized that’s a pretty competitive field. Your field is pretty competitive,” Smith said.
All jokes aside, it was then that he turned his focus to criminal justice.
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“I interned with the Office of Customs, which is now the Department of Homeland Security,” Smith said. “They introduced me to the sheriff at the time and then the police chief at the time, Chief Holbert. I told myself, ‘I need a job, whichever one of these agencies hire me first.’”
That was 28 years ago, and he’s been with Orlando Police Department ever since, working every unit except for field training.
“The one unit that changed me the most was the Parramore bike unit,” he said. “That’s where we started getting into the community meetings and the community outreach. And that’s where it started really changing for me. Because I saw what it really does for people.”
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Community policing
Smith talked a lot about being in the community with the officers and supervisors. He said he believes community policing is so critical to reducing crime.
He said it’s simple: officers can’t just patrol the streets; they have to be actively engaged in the community. He said their interaction and relationships with people have to be genuine and not for show.
“Everyone from my level on down to lieutenant is going to have to ride a shift,” Smith said.
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Photos shared with us provided a snapshot of Smith’s hands-on community involvement, volunteering with nonprofits and area boards while also working his way up the ranks over the last 28 years.
This is the community connection he wants for his officers, especially in areas like Parramore where residents won’t even speak to police, let alone wave hello.
“Us engaging goes even further because they feel comfortable to give us a call and say, ‘Hey, there’s something loitering on my property.’ Some people aren’t comfortable and think, ‘It’s not my place, I’m snitching.’”
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“I hear you saying that you’re going to be engaged in the community, but how do you get your officers to be more engaged in the community?” Jones asked.
“Lead from the front,” Smith said. “There’ll be officers who want to do basically what they see (in) their command structure. They see me out there going to meetings, they see me out there going to calls. They see me stop and see five kids in a park and just talk, stop and talk to ‘em. That’s what I want them to do, but I want it to be genuine.”
On Tuesday, Jones will continue her conversation with Smith, focusing on the city’s crime.
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