‘A family decision’
Outgoing Orlando police Chief Rolón considers public office after 30-year career
Following in the footsteps of past Orlando police chiefs who have become elected officials, outgoing OPD Chief Orlando Rolón said he is considering a run for public office after he retires this fall following a 30-year career with the agency.
In an interview this week with the Orlando Sentinel, Rolón said he was “not ruling out the possibility” of serving the public as an elected official.
“I think I’ve been very fortunate to be the chief of an agency that has a strong history of having leaders move on and lead throughout Central Florida,” Rolón said, pointing to U.S. Rep. Val Demings, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and Orange County Sheriff John Mina — all former OPD chiefs.
“With that said ... it better be a very strong message from the good Lord that comes down to my wife and then gets delivered to me because whatever decisions we make will be a family decision,” he said.
While Rolón said it was still too premature to announce what, if any, position he has considered, the chief added that he would like to stay in Orlando, the city his family has called home since he moved here from Puerto Rico in 1977.
“Is it my preference to remain in Orlando? Absolutely,” the chief said. “But if my calling says that I must go elsewhere, I may be open to that idea.”
Rolón, the city’s first Hispanic police chief, took office in October 2018.
The chief said it was “humbling” to be celebrated by the community for the achievement. But he noted with disappointment that it’s still rare to find Hispanics among the executive staff of local governments or corporations in Central Florida, despite the existing talent.
“We should always be mindful that equity is very important at all levels, and that we must strive to correct the wrongs of the past, because there were a lot of wrongs, right?” Rolón said. “... I believe Hispanics are being left behind and we lack that representation that I think we deserve at the executive level.”
During Rolón’s four-year tenure as chief, OPD re-established the neighborhood patrol unit, developed a youth outreach program and created the Real-Time Crime Center, which Rolón described as the “crown jewel” of the department.
The crime center employs analysts and detectives who process crime data, surveil the city’s camera network and assist officers in realtime as they solve crimes. Rolón highlighted one incident in which surveillance cameras recorded a vehicle hitting and killing a pedestrian on Colonial Drive. The crime center was able to follow the hit-and-run driver with the cameras into a residential neighborhood and send officers to arrest the suspect, he said.
“If it hadn’t been for those cameras, [it] probably would have been days before we could have obviously been able to identify who the person responsible was,” Rolón said.
The chief said he hopes the junior law enforcement program developed under his tenure will yield applicants in the future from diverse communities. Under his leadership, the department has made some progress in increasing diversity among its officers, Rolón said.
“It is critical that we have a representation that mirrors the community,” he said. “That’s what we strive for, but we need the applicants to be able to do that.”
Rolón also oversaw the implementation of the Community Response Team, a six-month pilot partnership with Aspire Health Partners that dispatches mental health professionals instead of police to 911 calls involving non-violent people in crisis.
City officials called it a success last year after none of the calls resulted in an arrest.
“We believe that the program will continue and will be expanded in the future,” Rolón said.
Rolón’s tenure was also marked by challenges, including the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
“At the time, there was no thought of a vaccine or a cure or what exactly it was that was affecting us,” he said. “Yet, we had to encourage our officers to continue to go out there and perform their tasks, to honor the oath that they took to serve and protect considering that they were putting their lives at risk.”
As coronavirus cases climbed, downtown Orlando became the center of massive protests during the summer of 2020 following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. City officials estimated 10,000 people participated in the largest protest on June 7.
Officers arrested more than 100 people during the first six days of demonstrations on mostly misdemeanors or ordinance violations. In the past, Rolón defended the agency’s use of tear gas to disperse crowds, which he said was done after officers used non-irritant smoke as a warning and some protesters pelted officers with debris.
On Tuesday, Rolón said he was “proud” of how the agency responded to a challenging period in history and did not think officers could have handled the protests differently.
“What I’m most proud of is how our officers responded to those challenges and how our officers stood the line and basically ensured that we afforded our citizens an opportunity to voice their concerns, in most cases in a peaceful manner,” he said. “... Even when we had to respond to some of the aggression that was shown towards the officers, even those situations were kept very controlled for the most part.”
OPD also came under national scrutiny in 2019 after a reserve officer arrested 6-year-old Kaia Rolle at a charter school. The officer was later fired.
Rolónsaiditwas“oneofthe lowest moments” he had as a chief, especially because OPD had a policy in place requiring officers to get a supervisor’s approval before arresting children younger than 12. Kaia’s ordeal prompted Florida lawmakers to ban the arrest of children under 7.
Rolón noted law enforcement officers are still required to transport children who are involuntarily committed under Florida’s Baker Act.
“Why is it that we’re requiring law enforcement officers to take a child into protective custody when we could easily maybe have an ambulance service or fire department personnel do that job?” the chief asked. “... We also need to ask our legislators to change laws that are not prudent or not conducive to the proper role of law enforcement in situations like that.”
Rolón will be spending the next three months helping with the transition for his replacement, Deputy Chief Eric Smith. He said he has told the department to support Smith in his ideas to make the agency better.
“I told [Smith] two key things that we must never forget: The importance of reducing crime and, equally as important, earning and maintaining the trust of the citizens that we serve,” he said. “It’s easy to earn trust. It’s much harder to protect the trust that you have earned.”
Rolón thanked God and community leaders for the opportunity to be chief but gave the ultimate credit to his wife, Georgina Pinedo-Rolón, for helping him cope with the challenges of the profession.
“If it wasn’t for her, I would have not become the chief of police — I can guarantee you that,” he said. “... She was my security blanket. She was the person who guided me through the good times and the bad times.”