ORLANDO, FL — Orlando Police Department’s Tactical Anti-Crime Unit (“TAC”) was a street-level initiative that nominally focused on violent crime as well as crime trends identified by OPD crime analysts. Its practical reality was a group that operated out of undercover vehicles, spending most of its time conducting pretextual traffic stops. The kind that routinely uncover drugs and guns, and the kind that tend to piss people off for their perceived pettiness — particularly when the only violation turns out to be the minor traffic offense. Like in this video… where a TAC officer responds to allegations of “stereotyping” with a speeding ticket.
Pretextual stops are lawful. The constitutional reasonableness of a traffic stop does not depend on the motivations of the officers involved, as long as they had probable cause to conduct the traffic stop. They also mean that just about anyone can be stopped. Do you have a license plate frame on your car? The kind commonly installed by the dealership? If you drive your car in Florida, you are committing a violation. And it is settled law that the presence a license plate frame alone is enough to justify a traffic stop.
In a previous story involving TAC, we reported the following, verbatim:
“In 2018 TAC recovered 98 crime guns and 57 stolen vehicles, seizing 368 pounds of cocaine, 10,360 pounds of cannabis, and 194 pounds of heroin in the process. Yes, those are all supposed to be pounds. No, the numbers are not anomalous. In 2017 the unit recovered 107 crime guns, 70 stolen vehicles, made nearly 600 felony arrests and seized thousands of pounds of drugs.”
Those figures came straight from Orlando Police Department’s annual reports. And — as we also reported previously — every one of the drug seizure figures is wrong, overstating reality by more than 450 times.
We discovered OPD’s misrepresentation after we requested records associated with all incidents involving the seizure of drugs with a street value of more than $100,000… and there weren’t any.
That made no sense, given the figures in OPD’s annual reports.
It turned out that Orlando Police Department had — for three consecutive years — been stating TAC’s drug seizures in pounds, when the figure should have been in grams.
There are 453.59 grams in a pound. Which means that TAC’s drug seizures had been overstated by more than 450 times. Or to make it sound particularly bad: more than 45,000%.
If the annual reports were to be believed, TAC had somehow managed to seize more drugs than OPD’s Drug Enforcement Division. OPD’s position is that this was all a mistake. According to Police Legal Advisor Alex Karden,
“What happened in 2018 was that TAC sent their numbers for the year to the civilian employee who prepares the Annual Report. However, on the form they sent over, there were no units listed. So for, example, “368.5 cocaine†instead of “368.5 grams of cocaine.†The civilian employee who then prepared the report mistakenly thought it was pounds.”
The same error was present in 2017 and 2016.
That it was a mistake is plausible. That no one noticed it for three consecutive years is a tougher pill to swallow.
After OPD confirmed our finding, the agency corrected and reissued its annual reports from 2016, 2017, and 2018.
On March 1, 2019, a Special Notice was issued by Chief of Police Orlando Rolón. Effective March 10, 2019, “The Special Enforcement Division will be created and will operate under the Investigative Services Bureau. DED, TAC, NPU, GIU, and FIU will be assigned to the Special Enforcement Section under the Special Enforcement Division.”
TAC no longer exists.
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Homie handled this perfectly lol and the police were cool for not being dicks
I got expelled from school my junior year for a few flakes of shake and a lil stem underneath the garbage in my car. This was in Florida as well
Is it just me or did they search his car without consent (asking first)? And the “guns and drugs†comment, give me a break. This is what gives cops a bad name, and they deserve it, looking at things like this.
This is your tax money at work.
Some cops go overboard
Kinda seems like harrassment
The irony of the officer saying “everybody says that†just like everybody is trying to kill cops smh
Is weed illegal in Florida ?
"it do look like weed" I cant with this man lmaoooo, just admit it at that point
Rule #1, Do not talk to the pigs. Rule #2, DO NOT TALK TO THE FUCKIN’ PIGS!
He's on his way to work wearing flip flops?
Now this guy is gonna go tell his friends “cops pulled me over for being blackâ€, then they’ll believe them, then tell all Their friends about it, and so on. THIS is why so many people think theres so much racism. They’re living in a false reality.
threatening to test a tiny piece of weed to take him to jail lol these tactics getting out of hand, might as well just walk when it’s getting towards the end of the month 🤷ðŸ½â€â™‚ï¸
Seem like a nice young guy, and everybody went home.
I believe the “traffic offender†here 100% over every one of these cops. Shame
tiMeOuT iM aT my dRiVeWaY
Wow, fuking with this dude over this bs.
Lol cop couldn’t even tell him the exact speed he was driving
I knew I didn't recognize the area …. Ivy Lane? All I can say is … nite-time-ain't-no-time-to-be-in-dat-dare-hooood; daytime-nitder!
No one goes over there …. seriously. I don't even know how to get there and I don't want to. Notorious for everything you would find on the streets of Baltimore or Chik-ca-go.
He was probably the most reasonable black person I’ve ever saw deal with the police
Our cars are calibrated, ya, right🖕
Pulls the race card just cause he knows he's in the wrong
Nope. Can't be a simple traffic infraction. No way. mUSt bEe rAcISM!!1!1
Seriously, all this shit over weed? Fuck man weed shouldn't even be illegal.
Omg why do THEY-always-feel-the-need-too-put-on-a-show… just F'ing man up jfc…yeah I was speeding yeah I got shafe my bad officas….
locking someone up for a plant ? pathetic
everything is harassment to this guy, only everything he does is perfect, because he is black he must be correct, bla bla bla
That’s ridiculous🙄
The Orlando cops suck
Orlando sucks
:25 what's with the burnt up bottle lol. Tobacco Spitter maybe….
Driving while black 🤦ðŸ¾â€â™‚ï¸
Pretext stop from the very beginning.
Legalize weed
When will the US learn about the Benefits of Cannabis
I work with Military personnel to help them with ptsd, depression, stress & pain management
Jailing people for no reason 😒
At least Canada as declared it legal for the good of the people
Edit i could understand if he was carrying pounds etc but for shake??
Two men and a truck got some free advertising
Dude it’s 2021. All this over weed? Wasting our damn tax dollars on petty incidents
The punks get so excited to find drugs.
I love it when you can't pull the race card because the Cop tells you that EVERYBODY HERE LOOKS LIKE YOU.