‘No crime will be committed against you’: Orlando police chief tries to appease LGBTQ and Jewish communities

ORLANDO, Florida. — Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith speaks out after LGBTQ-friendly businesses were vandalized on Wednesday, and as this is the second attack on specific communities, he says any form of hate will not win.

“No crime against you is unacceptable,” Smith said to the LGBT community.

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District Dive and Southern Craft at Southern Nights were vandalized on Wednesday morning.

“What he did is criminal mischief, right now it’s illegal, it’s not possible and it’s unacceptable and we have to find him and that’s why we need the community’s help,” Smith said.

Smith says it’s too early to call this a hate crime, but he shared surveillance footage showing the suspect breaking windows.

This latest act against a particular community came after anti-Semitic messages were displayed on a building in downtown Orlando on New Year’s Eve.

Keith Dvorchik, CEO of Shalom Orlando, spoke to News 6 after these reports were shown.

At the time, he said, “We’ve talked about this too many times, the Jews remain the only people to hate.”

Jewish community leaders criticized the lack of response from city and state leaders.

Hours after the act of vandalism at the Southern Nights complex, Orlando police and other elected officials sent out statements condemning the act.

Religious community leaders say they have seen slower responses.

At the time anti-Semitic messages surfaced, it took Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and some elected leaders three days to respond to the message.

State Rep. Anna Escamany, D-Orlando, did draw attention to the slow response at the time, saying, “I’m guessing the lack of response from other elected officials may be due to the holiday break.”

“That’s the way it is with hate: they choose one, then move on to the next, and then move on to the next, unless we decide together to end it,” Dvorchik said.

Smith says his department has received and will continue to receive results for all communities.

“We are here to protect all of our communities, but this was only for the Jewish community,” said the head of the organization, Eric Smith. “We are also here to protect them. We have some information on this case, but we are ready to protect them from any crimes against this community.”

Both the investigation into what happened at the Southern Nights complex and the anti-Semitic messages are still ongoing.

If anyone has information on any of these cases, you are encouraged to call the Orlando police.

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