March 28, 2024

Crime

Image Repair

Diane Sears | 9/1/2007

Amid a fast-growing population in Orlando, some violent crime rose in 2006, and civic and business leaders in the region are wrestling with what the crime statistics mean and what they should do about them.


[Photo: Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda / Orlando Sentinel]

The facts: Inside city limits, the number of murders climbed from 22 to 49 between 2005 and 2006. As of July, there were 25 homicides this year. Robberies rose by more than 25% during 2005-06. Not all the news was bad: Assaults rose only slightly during 2005-06, and residential and hotel burglaries fell.

Orlando Police Chief Mike McCoy attributes most of the homicides to young drug dealers. The area’s growing population has seen a surge in people ages 15-20. The vast majority of all the violence, says McCoy, “is ‘crime-on-crime,’ where victim and perpetrator seem to have extensive rap sheets.”

The statistics have prompted responses from increased hiring of private security guards to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer’s creation of a 26-member task force. That group has issued 36 recommendations, ranging from additional after-school programs to changes in police operations. While little of the increased crime took place in areas frequented by tourists, police presence has been stepped up in tourist enclaves. And the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau has worked with the sheriff’s office to conduct crime prevention seminars for hotel workers. Tourism brochures include safety tips.

Tourism executives, meanwhile, are monitoring the effects of national news reports on the area’s image. Bimonthly surveys so far show only 3% of potential visitors cite crime as a reason they won’t visit. The number hasn’t gone up since the recent publicity.

“It’s all about prevention,” says Danielle Courtenay, senior vice president of global publicity and public affairs for the CVB. “These things are not new. A lot of it is cyclical.”

Tags: Politics & Law, Central, Government/Politics & Law

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