Homicide investigators from 12 agencies join forces to solve murders
Detectives from a dozen police departments announced this morning they will join together in a two-county task force to investigate a city's most violent crime — homicide cases.
The 20 detectives assigned to the multi-agency task force were sworn in earlier this week and now have police powers anywhere in Orange and Osceola counties.
"To the murderers who think they've gotten away with it, should be relatively frightened," said Orange-Osceola State Attorney Lawson Lamar, who helped organize the task force whose goal is to bring together less-experienced officers with seasoned detectives to investigate homicides.
Investigators from Apopka, Belle Isle, Edgewood, Kissimmee, Maitland, Oakland, Ocoee, Orlando, St. Cloud, Windermere, Winter Garden and Winter Park will be part of the task force. The state attorney's office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are also participating.
The JHIT will work much like the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation – a multi-agency narcotics and vice task force that pools resources from around the two counties.
Members of JHIT will be housed at Orlando Police Department and will work full-time in the Orlando office. When a homicide occurs, JHIT members will respond to the scene to investigate.
During other times, JHIT will be looking into more than 160 cold case murders, said Orlando Chief Paul Rooney.
"This is a win-win," Rooney said, of what he labeled an "elite" group of investigators. "I guarantee there will be results."
Two large agencies are noticeably missing from the roster – neither the Orange County nor Osceola County sheriff's offices are included. However, that could change once the task force is up and running, said SAO spokesman Randy Means.
Before the creation of the task force, each department was responsible for investigating its own homicides, but had the option of seeking assistance from an outside agency. However, most of the smaller police departments haven't investigated a murder in years.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show that between 2008 and 2011 there were no murders in Belle Isle, Edgewood, Oakland or Windermere — which is good news for the crime rate and the residents, but bad news for any detective who could be tasked with investigating one.
During the same time frame, officers in Maitland and Winter Park only investigated one homicide; while Winter Garden and Ocoee had three each. St. Cloud had five murders, while Apopka and Kissimmee and nine each during the four-year period.
In comparison, Orlando's homicide unit has investigated 118 murders — nearly four times the combined number of investigations by the 11 agencies.
Orlando police have the largest, and most experienced, team of homicide investigators of the group and are expected to show the smaller agencies the ropes.
The new JHIT teams will likely consist of two Orlando detectives, plus one on-call JHIT member and a detective from the agency where the homicide occurs – if it's outside of Orlando's city limits.
Each member of JHIT will be paid his or her current salary and any overtime will be paid for by each participating municipality, Lamar said.
When questioned if the timing of creation of JHIT had to do with Lamar seeking re-election in the fall, the police chiefs in attendance were quick to shoot that down.
"We came to him, he didn't come to us," said Edgewood Chief Pete Marcus, who heads the local police chief's association and was crucial in forming the task force.
Lamar is facing two opponents — Jeff Ashton and Ryan Williams — in the August primary.
bprieto@tribune.com or 407-420-5620.
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