Criminal Law
This is the first paper that I will be completing for Orlando Police Department. This police department was accredited in 1993, under the Florida Statute 943.125. It was during this time that the joint forces of Florida Police Chiefs Association and Florida Sheriff Association established an independent law enforcement accreditation program. It is through accreditation that establishes the system in order to keep a soaring level of professionalism. The department was certified by the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation in 1997 after becoming an accredited police agency. Before its accreditation, the agency was asked to comply with several standards that the Commission required. Such standards are implemented for the agencies to give quality service to the public, and to diminish the liability for the police officers and the agency as a whole. It was in 2000, when the department was able to successfully pass its very first reaccreditation. During the reaccreditation, there were many different agencies that were asked to participate in the review and inspection of existing policies and procedures of the police department. In 2003, the second reaccreditation of the department was completed after receiving its recognition by the National Recognition from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) (Orlando Police Department, 2005). It is during this time that agency had to comply with 250 State and National requirements to be accredited. The present policies and practices of the Orlando Police Department sealed its achievement to become one of the state accredited and acknowledged globally for becoming a recognized professional police agency.
At present, the agency maintains a Criminal Investigations Division which has four investigative sections composed of: 1.) violent crimes; 2.) property crimes; 3.) homeland security and; 4.) youth services (Orlando Police Deparment, 2005). Every section has its own specialized units which had been tasked to conduct the investigation of offenses in relation to their line of expertise. Some of the staff members that are designated in the Criminal Investigations Division are the private employees, sworn detectives, college students, and other professionals who want to volunteer. The main duty of the department’s Criminal Investigations Division is to make follow-up investigations of all the crimes that were reported to the agency. The scope of the investigations shall include interviews of the victims, suspects, and eyes witnesses. The division has to analyze the data and information that had been gathered for accuracy and reliability, which can easily be verified based on the reports. This is the method to establish a solid and comprehensive case that will be filed before the courts. Some of the specialized units shall include traffic enforcement, marine control, airport division, K-19 unit, bike unit, training unit, SWAT unit, and international drive team.
The mission statement of the department is to keep the city safe by lowering the crime rate and to maintain a neighborhood that is inhabitable. Currently, the department has 1001 sworn and civilian employees who have sworn to serve the people of the state of Orlando through effective policing, arrest and crime prevention, criminal investigations, community policing, and engaging in school organizations to educate the students as part of the delivery of complete police services (Gaines and Worrall, 2011).
News Report
Local News
In a news report of Bay News 9, on November 26, 2013, a man named Brian Leggit was shot and killed by the Orlando Police Department as Leggit tried to run over the police officer and hit the patrol car. The 31-year-old Leggitt was asked by the police to pull-over within the vicinity of Orange Blossom Trail and Colonial Drive, but Legitt continued to drive and did not stop. The police stated that they did not pursue the car of the accused, but was reported for lookout to other patrol cars. The suspect was spotted later on by another police officer near Thorpe and Wentwood avenues as he approached the traffic stop. The suspect tried to run over the police and strike the patrol car when the police officer got out of the car and headed towards the suspect. The police officer started to fire gun shots towards the suspect, who continued to drive and later crashed into a utility pole, causing his death. During the investigation of the crime, Crime Scene Unit of the Orlando Police Department gathered the evidence and performed the scene processing of evidence, which included the car of the. Based on the present policy of the department policy, any police officer who shall be involved in shootings will be placed on administrative leave pending investigation of the case. It is the Florida Department of Law Enforcement which is tasked to handle the investigation of the shooting incident as part of the standard operating procedure of the agency.
News Report:
Local News:
Reporter: Arelis R. Hernandez
The victim was Deputy Jonathan Scott Pine from the Office of the Sheriff in Orange County Florida. Pine was initially a bank manager who made a career shift to become a police in his ardent passion to prevent wrongdoing in the community. Pine tried to chase down the suspect named Benjamin Holtermann for vehicle-burglary (Hernandez, 2013). The suspect fired a gunshot that led to the death of Pine, and the suspect later on also shot himself. The girlfriend of the suspect named Erica Pugh, who is only 19, confessed that she and her boyfriend suspect were responsible for the recent car burglaries that occurred within the vicinity of Orange County. Pugh, was later declared as an accomplice of the crime, which led the judge to deny her application for bond on the charge for robbery with a firearm. Pugh is indicted for the following offenses: robbery with a firearm, burglary, grand theft, burglary, and aggravated assault with a firearm (Henandez, 2013). However, the judge granted Pugh’s bond application for the rest of the charges. The judge ordered the revocation of her approved pretrial release for the crimes including retail theft of cannabis and possession of cannabis after her arrest. The police officers explained that the charges against Pugh were derived several reported car burglaries, theft of items taken inside the cars and identity theft or fraud using the information from the stolen cars.
.
References:
Bay News 9 (2013). Orlando police officer shoots, kills suspect who tried to run him over. Web.
Retrieved on 19 February 2014, from
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2013/11/26/officer_involved_in_.html.
Gaines, L. and Worrall, J. (2011). Police Administration, 3rd ed. New York: Delmar Cengage.
Hernandez, A.R. (2013). “Could girlfriend of deputy's killer face murder charge”? Orlando
Sentinel. Web. Retrieved on 19 February 2013, from
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-erica-shantell-pugh-arrested-20140212,0,6419041.story.
Orlando Police Department (2005). Web. Retrieved on 19 February 2014, from
http://www.cityoforlando.net/police/mission.htm.
