15 Orlando Police Officers To Be Laid Off

ORLANDO, Fla. --

Orlando police officers thought they were safe from city layoffs, but 15 officers out of 700 on the force will soon be out of a job. That has some residents concerned about how the city will be able to fight crime.

“It doesn't sound like that many but we need them,” one resident told Eyewitness News.

The Fraternal Order of Police is upset because both the union and Police Chief Val Demings have submitted budget proposals that did not require cutting actual officers. But the union says the city rejected those ideas.

The police union thought the Orlando Police Department was only cutting certain programs and vacant positions. Now, city hall is hoping to save an additional $100 million in OPD's budget by putting 15 officers on the chopping block.

“I think we should look at other ways to try to cut the budget,” one resident told Eyewitness News.

On Wednesday, the City of Orlando announced it would cut 342 jobs citywide in an effort to save money. That's about ten percent of the city's payroll.

Part of that number will include 47 firefighters, 29 people from Business and Financial Services, as well as 19 positions from Families, Parks and Recreation. The Mayor's staff will also lose nine people.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer's office said the layoffs announced are a result the economic crisis and voters who want lower property taxes.

“More than half of our total budget is police and fire. The two largest departments had to participate in this in order to match our expenditures with our revenues. That's the challenge we have,” Orlando Chief Administrative Officer Byron Brooks said.

The city said Orlando has more officers than two years ago, thanks to the Mayor's public safety initiative, which has also been cut next year.

Even though the city says violent crime dropped 10 percent last year, Forbes magazine recently listed Orlando as the sixth most dangerous city in the United States.

Chief Demings says her department has applied for funding through the Cops Recovery Program to keep the 15 officers, but if the federal dollars don't come through the officers will be gone by September 30.