Mount Dora poised to move ahead with Safe Place initiative, despite GOP backlash

Mount Dora’s plan to join up with about 350 police agencies across the U.S., Canada and Europe in the Safe Place Initiative has spurred controversy in the quaint Lake County city.

The City Council last month unanimously voted to join the initiative, which includes writing bias-free policing policies and allowing businesses to post a sticker that features rainbow colors in their window, signifying it as a safe place for crime victims to enter to call authorities.

After the meeting, Republicans, comprising the county’s legislative delegation, inked a letter to the city, blasting the decision as divisive and threatening all “legislative, legal and executive options.”

The city again will discuss the initiative on Thursday evening, which has been supported by interim Police Chief Mike Gibson, Mayor Crissy Stile and the rest of the City Council in prior meetings.

It doesn’t seem Mount Dora plans to back down.

“I don’t see a City Council member that wants to do away with the Safe Place initiative,” said Stile.

The initiative was started in Seattle in 2015, at first taking aim to build trust with the LGBTQ community, but quickly rebranded to include all protected classes in the city, said Acting Sgt. Dorian Koreio, who oversees the initiative in Seattle and certifies agencies that want to adopt it.

To achieve certification, cities and agencies develop bias-free policing policies and other protocols and procedures pertaining to LGBTQ community members. Then a sticker is developed for businesses to voluntarily post in their windows if they agree to train current and future employees in the program, allow victims of crime to enter their business and help them call authorities.

Gibson said he’s excited to move forward with the initiative and currently is drafting policies. Then, police personnel will receive training in hopes of rolling it out in about two months.

“From our perspective, it’s not political at all,” he said. “From our perspective, it’s about being the best police agency we can possibly be.”

Koreio has been working with Gibson on crafting policies and said some people get hung up on the rainbow decal, even though the program is meant to support all groups.

“It’s just a stupid sticker, but it means so much that that law enforcement agency had to achieve that sticker,” he said. “That shows they have those checks and balances in place to hold those officers accountable. It lets victims know that they’re going to be supported both by their law enforcement agency and the businesses they go in.”

Police agencies across the country are certified in it, including the Orlando Police Department, Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.

Orlando rolled its program out soon after the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016 – though it had completed its paperwork before the attack, said Sgt. Amanda White, who oversees the effort. It now has 210 businesses with decals.

“A lot of people are afraid to report they were a victim,” she said. “For them, seeing a safe place sticker could be giving them that little nudge to come forward.”

Gibson said he thinks it could be a huge success and help build trust with those who may be hesitant to report crime if they’re mistrustful of law enforcement.

“This is a marginalized-community issue,” he said. “This is Black females who are not reporting they’re victims of domestic violence. These are immigrants that have zero or limited English-speaking skills and come from countries where you don’t trust the police.”

When Safe Place was first approved by the city council last month, a letter to the city was shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, blasting the program.

“We believe that you are putting the City of Mount Dora in the crosshairs of potentially detrimental and absolutely unnecessary, economic harm,” the letter posted by Rep. Taylor Yarkosky read. “In light of what we have seen around this country in regards to the pushback and unprecedented financial harm to long-standing American-made companies such as Anheuser-Busch and Target Corporation, this local ‘Safe Place’ program is negligent, irresponsible and divisive at best.”

The letter was signed by Yarkosky, Rep. Keith Truenow, Rep. Stan McClain and Sen. Dennis Baxley.

The county’s Republican party cheered the letter, posting on Facebook that a “legislative wipeout [is] INCOMING.”

The city hasn’t formally responded to the letter.

Koreio said the program has succeeded in liberal cities like Seattle and conservative communities in places like Washington and Texas. Like in Mount Dora, it occasionally sparks controversy, but tends to ultimately win support.

In Seattle, about 7,500 businesses have Safe Place decals in their windows.

He said when communities implement it, they typically see a spike in reported cases of bias or hate crimes, which often go unreported.

“To some degree … a law enforcement agency can put their flag down in the ground and say ‘this is where we stand about bias crime and hate crime,’” he said.