ORLANDO, Fla. — Orange County residents who have spent the last 10 days protesting racial injustice in policing had two victories to celebrate Monday evening. The City of Orlando and the Orange County Sheriff's Office lifted the 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. curfews that had been in place and the Sheriff's Office announced a major update to its Use of Force policy.
What You Need To Know
- RELATED: "We Are Scared for Our Lives": Orlando Demonstrators Call for Police Policy Changes
- Use of Force policy now states "Deputies have a duty to intervene if they anticipate or observe the unreasonable, unnecessary or disproportionate use of force."
- More Orange County stories
Friends and Orlando lawyers Caila Coleman and Jasmine Dortival continued to speak up loudly during Monday's protests for justice.
“For some reason us coming together and speaking together is a threat,” said Dortival as she was giving a speech to protesters.
They were happy to hear that after protester pleas the City of Orlando and Orange County leaders lifted the 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. curfews.
“I actually live down here downtown, so for us to have an 8 p.m. curfew it was very scary because, OK, if I need to run some last-minute errands or if I want to join a protest or do whatever it is I want to do I felt really restricted in my home,” Coleman said.
Protesters previously accused city and county leaders of trying to limit free speech by imposing those curfews, especially the 8 p.m. one. But Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said Monday the purpose of the curfew was to crack down on looting.
Update to Use of Force policy
The much bigger news activists had to celebrate centered around changes to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office use of force policy.
Specifically, the agency this statement:
“Deputies have a duty to intervene if they anticipate or observe the unreasonable, unnecessary or disproportionate use of force.”
“We definitely want to see that," Dortival said about the policy change. "We want to see accountability.”
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said that was already how deputies here were trained, but it needed to be spelled out in policy.
“And you would think that you wouldn’t have to tell people that and make it policy," Demings said. "But now, in the era that we’re in, the sheriff’s goal is to make sure that it’s abundantly clear to his staff, so I applaud [Sheriff Mina] for that.”
Coleman and Dortival say seeing these changes happening are exactly why they’ll keep protesting.
“Everybody is riled up and in their feelings, which is good because we’re seeing the results," Dortival said. "But I caution against returning to that sense of complacency, because once we let the world know that we’re no longer watching and the pressure is off things will probably go back to normal."