Sheriff John Mina pledges to stay the course after union pulls endorsement
The day after the union that represents Orange County deputies voted to rescind its endorsement of Sheriff John Mina, he reacted by pledging to stay the course despite signs of mounting dissatisfaction within the agency.
“The changes I have instituted at the Sheriff’s Office might have been the impetus of this decision,” Mina said in a statement. “If that’s the case, I accept that. I have made difficult decisions and have levied harsh discipline for policy violations, including terminating deputies for excessive force.”
He added he is committed to having “conversations with our deputies to improve and strengthen” OCSO, and also to ”implement and enforce policies that keep our community safe and hold our deputies accountable.”
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93 that members at a general meeting Tuesday had unanimously voted to pull the endorsement. Lodge president Jeff Stinson described the vote as “loud and clear.”
In a statement, the union said Mina had “continually made unilateral decisions not in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement, which has negatively impacted our members.”
“Not working alongside the Deputies and FOP 93 to resolve issues is not being a ‘progressive’ Sheriff,” Stinson said in a statement. “It is a demonstration of his unwillingness to follow the labor contract and its workplace protections. During these difficult times, we expect the Sheriff to communicate with the Deputies and to support them.”
The vote came on the heels of a poll conducted by the union recently in which more than 500 deputies, or almost 80% of respondents, said that the union should withdraw its endorsement for Mina.
The 16-question online survey was sent to more than 1,000 union members, all sworn deputies, and 674 responded, FOP officials said. The agency employs about 2,500 employees, including about 800 civilians.
In sharing the survey results, Stinson wrote that the union posed the question to “assess the level of dissatisfaction with our previously given endorsement,” which Mina announced at his 2020 campaign kickoff event in September.
That was months before the May death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and widespread calls to reform or defund law enforcement agencies.
Thousands flooded the streets of downtown Orlando for daily protests, leading to confrontations between demonstrators and officers from numerous local agencies, including Orange deputies.
The clashes occasionally turned violent, with protesters hurling rocks and bottles and law enforcement firing pepper spray and tear gas.
A survey conducted in the wake of the protests by Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 25, which represents Orlando Police Department officers, blasted Chief Orlando Rolón for “pandering” to the public and allowing “society politics” to play a role in daily operations at OPD.
But Rolón’s office is appointed, not elected. Mina is finishing a partial term he won after then-Sheriff Jerry Demings was elected county mayor in 2018, while running for his first full four-year term as the county’s top cop.
Running as a Democrat, he faces four opponents in the Aug. 18 primary: Joe Lopez, a former Florida Highway Patrol chief; Orlando businessman Darryl Sheppard; Andrew Darling, a former assistant public defender; and Eric McIntyre, the former interim police chief for Eatonville.