ORLANDO, Fla. — A community policing initiative launched three years ago by the Orange County Sheriff's Office to combat crime in the Pine Hills area is still going strong despite the coronavirus pandemic.

However the C.O.P.S. or Community Oriented Policing Unit had to change their approach, leading to a different way of connecting with people in the community. 

Orlando pastor Stevello Stovall championed these efforts. He lost his 27-year-old daughter Renisha Lee after a shooting in February, shortly before the pandemic hit Central Florida.

 “Someone shot up the trailer not knowing who was inside of it, but it was her trailer and she was killed and that is something we got to live with,” Stovall said.

Nearly a year later that case remains unsolved. In the months that followed, there more deadly shootings. Two, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, are believed to be gang-related, claiming the lives of two children: 14-year-old Denis Joshua Atkinson and 3-year-old Daquane Felix Jr.

 “We have got to go back to the drawing board,” Stovall said.

A low point for crime in the Pine Hills area came in 2018, when it was down 18%.

The sheriff gives credit to a 16-member Community Oriented Policing Squad, or COPS unit, created the year before. Since that time, a slight uptick in homicides is being reported with seven on the books in 2018, eight in 2019 and 10 in 2020.

 “We have had a spike in homicides in Orange County, but that kind of mirrors nationwide in cities all across the United States this year," Sheriff John Mina said. "There has been an increase in homicides and some experts think it is because of the pandemic and people are at home, they are not going to church, they are not socializing. They might not be getting the mental health assistance that they need.”

Mina says the pandemic made community policing a bit more difficult.

“Our community policing aspect probably wasn’t where it needed to be because, you know, we were trying to stay away from people, we didn’t want to approach kids and approach our residents,” Mina said.

Besides a couple of socially-distanced food giveaways, much of their community policing effort is now online. Deputies are now reaching out virtually to try and foster relationships with area youth, a trend likely to continue in the future.

 “…They are all into the technology. A 17, 18, 19-year-old they might not want to come to a town hall, but they might go online and listen to what the sheriff has to say and provide feedback,” Mina said.  

No matter the method, Stovall believes relationships are the key.

 "Let them know that, listen, it is lot more to life than picking up these guns and out here shooting and killing each other, starting gangs and things. We have got to stop it,” Stovall said.

Because of the past success of this Pine Hills COPS unit, a new team has been formed in the Holden Heights area. The sheriff says a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice is paying for additional deputies.