Mayor Henderson details plans to fight Fort Myers crime

FORT MYERS, Fla.- Mayor Randy Henderson is detailing his plans to stop the violence that’s plagued Fort Myers for years.

“I’m encouraged, and I believe we are going to solve this problem,” said Henderson. “We want them out of here, there’s no place for them, we’ve got to get them off the street. Law enforcement knows how to do that and is going to be intensely focused on doing that as we go forward.”

A task force composed of the Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott, Fort Myers Police Chief Dennis Eads, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and State Attorney’s Office met for the first time Wednesday for almost two hours. The discussion included tactics that are already making progress, like joint patrols in the Dunbar community,and new initiatives like a substation in the east part of town.w

“We’re talking about physically engaging a sense of high touch, high feel, trust building, camaraderie, engaging with, a community to build that sense of comfort that there’s trust. That’s what’s gonna happen, and that’s not optional. Chief Dennis Eads is intent that we exceed the expectation.”

The mayor admits they should have brought law enforcement agencies together like this sooner, but is now focused on the future.

“There’s no opportunity here for turf wars, ego massaging, when you have bad people shooting at citizens. It’s time to set aside everything, join arms and go solve the problem.”

Henderson says the task force will meet again within 10 days. After a few meetings, he plans to remove himself and allow law enforcement to take the reins.