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Celebrating MBI's 30th Anniversary
Director William Lutz is retiring from law enforcement at the end of 2008 after serving more than forty-one (41) years. MBI is approaching its 30th anniversary at the end of 2008 and as the Director has been assigned to the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation for twenty (20) of those years he has provided the following historical perspective of the MBI.Why MBI Was Created?
The MBI was conceived to fill the need for a cooperative effort to combat criminal activities which were organized, well-financed, and operated freely across jurisdictional lines of the existing law enforcement agencies. The MBI was created in December of 1978 as a specialized group of investigators assigned to concentrate on mid-level narcotics trafficking, organized crime, racketeering, and vice-related offenses such as prostitution, gambling, and illegal adult entertainment activity.
What Portion of MBI Works Mid-Level Narcotics Enforcement?
Eighty-five percent (85%) of the MBI staff are assigned to mid-level narcotics enforcement. Narcotics enforcement agencies usually operate under the radar of media coverage in order to quietly arrest lower level drug dealers and encourage their cooperation to assist law enforcement in the arrests of higher-level drug dealers. The narcotics agents at MBI are very active at arresting mid-level narcotics traffickers and have seized more than 173 Million Dollars in narcotics and 39 Million Dollars in currency from drug traffickers since the inception of MBI.
What Portion of MBI Works to Remove Organized Crime and Vice Organizations from the Community
When the MBI was formed in 1978, the Central Florida community was overrun by vice related establishments most of which came from Tampa-Clearwater area. At that time, Central Florida zoning ordinances and adult entertainment codes were weak. The vice industry took advantage of the situation by establishing a large volume of adult entertainment and sex shop businesses in our community. One of the primary reasons the MBI was formed was to combat the vice industry’s negative effects on Central Florida.
Only fifteen percent (15%) of the MBI staff are assigned to remove Organized Crime and Vice organizations from the community. It is difficult to realize how successful MBI has been without knowing the significant history of the vice industry in Central Florida. This small squad of agents is sometimes posed the question, “Don’t you have anything better to do?” This question usually comes from people who don’t understand what these law enforcement officers are trying to accomplish for the Orlando metropolitan area. (See on the website’s menu the Director’s Message for responses to the media concerning false stories created by the vice industry.) Working in conjunction with the State Attorney’s Office, as well as city and county leaders, the MBI Vice/Organized Crime Section has made our metropolitan area one of the cleanest metropolitan areas in the country as it relates to removing vice organizations. The results include the following tally of Central Florida Adult Entertainment and Vice related Establishments that have closed since the inception of MBI:
- Thirty-six (36) Adult Entertainment (Strip) Bars closed, leaving 10 remaining
- Sixty-one (61) Illegally Operating Massage/Body Scrub Parlors closed, leaving 8 under investigation
- Thirty-three (33) Illegally Operating Adult Bookstores closed, leaving 0 remaining
- Nine (9) Video/Peep show arcade operations closed, leaving 0 remaining
- Three (3) Adult Theaters closed, leaving 0 remaining
- Three (3) Live Nude Shows closed, leaving 0 remaining
- Eight (8) Lingerie Dance Rooms closed, leaving 0 remaining
- Nine (9) Commercial Gambling Bingo Halls closed, leaving 0 remaining
Two Hundred Ninety-Four (294) Advertised Escort Services closed, leaving only those advertised in non-escort service categories or on the internet remaining. Yellow pages and newspaper advertising for such businesses is now almost non-existent in Central Florida as the MBI convinced the Orlando Weekly, Bellsouth Advertising and Sprint Advertising to stop publishing escort service advertisements in their publications. This caused the majority of the escort services to leave Central Florida as advertising is the lifeblood of the organized prostitution trade.
Conclusion
As a result of successful teamwork the MBI has grown from three (3) original member agencies to fourteen (14) agencies all working together. This cooperative law enforcement effort has helped maintain the world renowned image of Metro-Orlando area as a clean, tourist friendly and family oriented community.