Orlando City Leaders Continue Push to Make Downtown Safer

Well, a 10-month undercover operation in downtown Orlando has uncovered drug sales and alcohol permit violations at various bars and nightclubs across downtown. Orlando police say undercover officers bought illegal drugs at nine locations, and that ended with 14 arrests. Investigators also found 19 violations involving issues with after-midnight alcohol permits. And District 5 Commissioner Shan Rose joins us now to talk more about this one. So, Commissioner, what was your reaction to the findings from this undercover operation? Good morning, John. Thank you for having me. Law enforcement continues to work hard to keep our downtown safe. Everyone who comes downtown to work, live, dine, enjoy entertainment and spend time with their families should feel safe. And we're continuing to work hard to make sure that there are challenges. And as we discover them, we continue to work through them, work with the establishments, work with our downtown to make sure we continue to be a vibrant downtown Orlando. You know, one thing you hear it all the time. I hear it all the time on the news. People say, well, it's not safe to go downtown. We have an event like a stabbing recently. How hard is it to try and make people understand that safety is on top of mind, but you need to get people down there as well to to enjoy. You have to be honest. We have to acknowledge that there are challenges, but we also have to be fair enough to recognize the progress. And like both things can be true at the same time we are very concerned with public safety but we recognize that businesses are continuing to invest in downtown people are choosing to live here and the work is happening every day to strengthen our community what does concern me is when we have conversation shifts after a serious incident and we we like discard all the progress that we are making these are two different conversations as a city we have a responsibility to listen to the residents, support law enforcement, address our concerns and make sure we're doing everything to create a safe environment. I'm glad you said that because it is a difficult balancing act. So how do you balance it with getting more people to live down there, bringing new businesses in and continue to move forward with a city like this? As a commissioner, I think we have to hold both truths at one time. We must continue to work towards safer streets and we cannot abandon our commitment to downtown's future. We have to, you know, I'll continue to come on and tell the real story, report the facts, answer the tough questions, continue to hold us accountable. But more importantly, I want folks to realize that there's a lot of investment. There's a lot of improvement. And we're a resilient community. We will continue to grow together. Yeah, I'll be honest. I moved from a city with a downtown that was incredibly dangerous. Nobody wanted to go down there. I don't see that in Orlando. We all know crime happens. What would you like to see in downtown to take it to the next step what's on your agenda here we'll continue to strengthen downtown we'll continue to bring businesses we'll continue to have conversations i would you know thank OPD and Chief Smith for investing in our communities making sure that there's technology to address situations and our officers reporting um continue to have the community and one of the things i want to encourage is record it um is not the answer you've got to report things when you see situations that are not okay, start getting up and calling 9-1-1. When I look at situations, we have to continue to work together to keep our community safe. You know, you make a great point because we've all seen that video online about the stabbing, and that's been one of the issues is everybody was videotaping. Nobody was calling. So what do you do in a case like that? I think, like I said, start reporting it instead of recording it. We've got to be able to ensure 9-1-1 shows up extremely quickly. When we look at our investment into technology, drones, we have the technology to be able to report things and fix things so once they're reported to us we'll work together to continue to make downtown Orlando great well it is an asset and we appreciate you coming on with us to talk more about it once again district five commissioner shan rose appreciate your time today have a great day thank you for having me we'll talk