Living in Orlando might seem like a dream come true. Walt Disney World and Sea World are well visited yearly by tourists. But if you sit down in a quiet and relaxing restaurant with a cup of coffee in one hand and the local newspaper in the other than you might not think this was a perfect place to live in. Daily articles of murders having occurred in Orlando are published on the local newspapers.
One incident was a 72 year old woman who was stabbed in her home near Delaney Park. The sad thing is that I live near that park and am in constant look out of any suspicious activities I might be concerned about. In 1982 36 people were killed, since then there haven’t been so many killings, but that has changed. So far Orlando has passed that high number and hit 39 murders to date. Many of these crimes are unknown, some are drug related and a small percentage is of young children. The youngest victim on that list was 10 months old, she was either shook or beaten by her own father.
Orange County is now starting a new crime prevention plan in which the Orlando Police Department will reorganize 700 of its officers to target areas where crime is high. Some of these areas are Orange Blossom Trail and Downtown Orlando. Police have also stepped up community awareness programs, including a recent “Kicks for Guns” event that provided new shoes to anyone turning in a firearm – no questions asked. The event netted 116 guns, including a Tec-9 semiautomatic and three previously reported stolen. Solutions such as locking up more criminals are creating new problems, such as crowded jails.
Capt. Mark Strobridge of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department dismissed the danger for tourists, saying most of the murders took place in poor downtown areas far from the city’s major attractions. About 51 million tourists a year come to Orange County, where many business and political leaders fear a return to the highly publicized violence of the 1990s, when the killings of a few tourists across the state prompted state officials to post armed guards at highway rest stops and to remove license-plate designations identifying rental cars. Police officials acknowledge that they have been worried about the jump in violence since last spring, when murders in Orlando surpassed last year’s total of 22.
You can view statistics for each city at this website http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FSAC/UCR/2005/cnty_annual05.pdf and see for yourself how the rate has increased dramatically.
Will Orlando ever be safe again? Will tourists visit the City Beautiful without fear of being robbed or shot at? Answers to these questions are not clear, whether or not the rate will go down next year is a guess. Not only is Orlando a target of high murder rates but so is other states such as Chicago and New York.
“Shootings and wounded have gone way up, too,” says police Sgt. Rich Ring, who heads Orlando’s homicide division. “If we didn’t have the ORMC trauma unit, the homicide rate would be staggering. For every person that dies, they save two or three. If I was shot, take me right there.”
What motivates a murderer? “The prevailing theme seems to be robbery,” Ring says.
The only thing Orlando’s citizens can do is be aware of your surroundings, keep your house safe by locking all the windows and doors. Also keep your car locked at all times, many teenagers have been caught taking vehicles late at night that were unlocked and going for a joy-ride, and then they bring it right back. Make sure you lock your door when you get in your car and look in the back seat before you get in. These are simple thing that can keep you safe and far from harm. Hopefully many Floridians will be aware of how serious this is and help the crime rate lower.
