Orlando City Hall does not care what the black community wants. City officials proved that point recently when they announced that they will not change the time or location of the Citizens Police Review Board. That panel of appointees is charged with reviewing the results of internal investigations into police brutality. It meets 8:30 a.m. on first Wednesday of the month at Orlando City Hall. Though the meeting is open to the public, very few people attend because the time and location make it difficult for working people to speak to the board. For more than a year a variety of people have asked for the meeting time and location be changed. The goal was to make it easier for working people and people of color – those most likely to have had negative encounters with police -- to attend the meeting and address board members. Recently city officials rejected the request. In a written statement, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer’s spokeswoman explained the city’s position...

All Orlando patrol officers now have bodycams. Orlando Police Chief John Mina shared that news last week during the Orlando Citizens Review Board. That board evaluates internal investigations and citizen complaints about police officers. In the wake of high profile police shootings and brutality complaints throughout the United States and Central Florida, the public has been clamoring for all police officers to be equipped with the cameras to record police incidents. The Orlando police pledged to deploy the cameras to patrol officers a year ago. Due to administrative problems within the department, all OPD patrol officers were not outfitted with the cameras until now. By contrast, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office deployed the cameras to its patrol officers two years ago. The lack of OPD body cameras proved to be a major problem early this year when helicopter footage showed an officer kick murder suspect Markieth Loyd in the head when he was captured. The hel...