Chief Mina will begin the presentation with some talking points about National Stalking Awareness Month.

The citizens of Orlando will be proud to know that their police department has the best trained officers and detectives in the area investigating stalking complaints.  We take every case seriously and do everything we can to increase the protective factors for victims when we see signs of danger.

You may be surprised with some of the statistics:

·        3.4 million Adults are stalked each year in the United States.

·        76% of females murdered were subjected to at least one episode of stalking in the 12 months prior to the murder.

·        81% of victims of intimate partner stalking reported that they had also been battered by that partner, 31% were also sexually assaulted by that partner.

·        Finally, 46% of victims did not recognize that they had been subjected to stalking.

This is why awareness is so important to us.  Every time we train a father, a friend, a sister, a brother how to recognize stalking, we reduce everyone’s risk factors.  We must tell the bad guys that we, and the community, are wise to you and we know how to stop what you are doing. 

As the Florida Legislature has strengthened stalking laws, we have enhanced our training for our officers to take full advantage of the ability to arrest stalkers and protect victims.

We are proud to have been a model agency nationwide in our victim focused response, especially with our Domestic Violence Response Team.  This innovative response has also been recognized by the Orange County Commission on Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Commission as a best practice to be adopted by all local law enforcement agencies.

The Orlando Police Department also participates in the Domestic Violence Task Force, the Fatality Review Board and the Commission on Domestic Violence and Child Abuse.

The Orlando Police Department works tirelessly to keep Orlando a safe city by reducing crime and maintaining livable neighborhoods.  None of this would be possible without the invaluable service of the victim services partners that we have here with us today.