ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Police Department has a new chief in Eric Smith, who has taken over the position from former chief, Orlando Rolon. 

As the former deputy chief, Smith is no stranger to the department.

“I’ve been at OPD for 28 years, so I'm going to go all the way up and reach the pinnacle of this job," he said. "And to be able to run the agency and work with all the officers that have worked with me all these years is just a great honor."

He said he already has big plans as OPD’s new leader.

“You know I am a new chief — there will be some structural changes," Smith said. "There were some things that I want to see, some units that I think that we may have had in the past that may be coming back.

"It's just we have to find ways to fight violent crime, and that's the direction I'm going into. But also I want those good ties and strong ties with our community."

In his first week as chief, he already experienced a heavy dose of violent crime. 

On July 31, a shooting in downtown Orlando left seven injured. Days later in Lake Nona, five people were found dead in an apparent murder suicide. 

"I think violent crime needs to be our focus because our shootings are up, and that's going to come down and violent crime has the biggest impact on people's lives," Smith said. "I mean, people are lost or their lives have changed permanently. That's got to be one of our biggest threats is that we look into something we really have to change."

Smith said he plans to fight the violence by engaging the community and attending as many different local meetings as he can. 

“I don't care if there's five people or 10 people there," he said. "I'll be at those meetings, because you have to get input from the community. If you don't get the input, you're failing.”

It is a problem he plans to tackle head on rather than from behind a desk, and even though he’s just starting his tenure, he aims to be known as a chief who cares. 

"I get calls at two or three in the morning for people from our community, 'Hey, I've got this issue. There's two police cars on my street. What's going on?'" he said. "I have zero problem with that. I want people to feel like I'm approachable, reachable, and, you know, I'm there to help them."

Smith said he has already gotten advice from Rolon, as well as from Sheriff John Mina, and he plans to call on them for advice as he settles into this new role.

There will be a change in command ceremony on Aug. 24 to mark Smith taking over. He says the public is welcome and people can come out and meet him.