A Central Florida police union

endorses Rob Panepinto for Orange County mayor.

A major law enforcement union is endorsing the Republican businessman and not the Democratic sheriff in the Orange County mayor’s race.

The Central Florida Police Benevolent Association endorsed Rob Panepinto on Monday in the nonpartisan race to succeed outgoing Mayor Teresa Jacobs.

The CFPBA represents law enforcement members in 12 agencies in Orange, Lake and Osceola counties — including the Orange County Sheriff ’s Office, headed by mayor candidate Sheriff Jerry Demings.

“Running the county as county mayor, there’s more involved than just law enforcement,” said CFPBA President Jerry Hagan. “Public safety is certainly paramount, but there’s more to it than just that. A broad spectrum of business experience is better for all in the county.”

In an endorsement letter sent to union members, Hagan said the association will ask “all citizens in Orange County who respect the strong and efficient enforcement of our laws, to cast their ballots in support of Rob Panepinto.”

The Demings campaign had no comment on the endorsement.

The union has previously endorsed Jacobs, a Republican, and Democratic Sheriff Bob Hansell in Osceola County. But it has never endorsed Demings for any of his three runs for sheriff, Hagan said.

The group also endorsed Democrat Bob Poe over Deming’s wife, former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings, in the Democratic primary for Congress in 2016.

Jerry Demings won all three of his races, while Val Demings won the Democratic nomination and the general election.

Panepinto, 51, the president of the firm Florentine Strategies and CEO of Entrepreneurs in Action, said he was “incredibly honored to have the support of an organization that works so hard to represent our men and women in blue … I will work to ensure they have the resources, training and funding they need to do their jobs safely.”