Ocoee launches holiday safety initiatives

The Ocoee Police Department is gearing up for the holidays with the launch of Operation Safe Holiday, which includes four safety initiatives available to city residents.

Additionally, shopping centers around Ocoee will see increased police patrols as well as message boards reminding shoppers to keep their vehicles locked and not to leave packages in their vehicles.

Two new safety initiatives being implemented this year are the Ring program and Safe Exchange Zone program. The two other initiatives are called Operation Porch Pirate and Operation Safe Disposal.

“(Operation Safe Holiday) is multifaceted,” Deputy Chief Steve McCosker said. “One of the (programs) is ‘Operation Port Pirates’ where … residents of Ocoee can go ahead and have their packages sent to the police department, where someone will sign for them, and they can pick them up at a later time with a photo I.D.”

For large boxes from high-value items such as flat-screen TVs, computers and video-game consoles, the police department will offer collection bins through its Operation Safe Disposal program. The Ocoee Police Department is partnering with Waste Connections of Florida for this program. Collection bins will be located at the property on Bushy Creek Court just south of the Ocoee Police Department — 646 Ocoee Commerce Parkway — and at Vignetti Park, 1910 Adair St., McCosker said.

One of the new initiatives this year is the Ring program. City leaders at the Nov. 20 City Commission meeting approved the police department entering into a partnership with Ring to participate in the voluntary release of videos recorded by Ring users. Ring offers video-recording doorbells that can connect to smartphones.

“(This initiative) allows us to go ahead and — when we have a crime or series of crimes in a particular area — pick out a geographical area to send out notifications letting people know to be aware of what type of crime is happening in their community,” McCosker said. “It also allows us to request people to contact us if they’re willing to share their (Ring) videos.”

The other new initiative is the Safe Exchange Zone, which will be launched at the Ocoee Police Department parking lot. Ocoee residents will be allowed to safely conduct internet or e-commerce purchases or exchanges at two designated parking spots at the police department, McCosker said.

“We encourage people that participate in e-commerce to go ahead and utilize the parking lots of the police station — where we provided two spots next to each other — to go ahead and make their exchange,” McCosker said. “It gives (Ocoee residents) the opportunity to conduct these transactions with strangers in a safer environment.”

The Safe Exchange Zone also can be used as a location for the transfer of custody of children from one parent to another as part of child custody arrangements.