Orlando Police welcomed thousands of public safety professionals to Orlando Saturday as the International Association of Chiefs of Police kicked off its annual conference, with Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith greeting the crowd. The gathering, known as IACP 2026, has drawn law enforcement leaders from across the country and around the world.
According to a post from Orlando Police
, Chief Smith and the department welcomed the visiting professionals to the city for the conference Saturday. The department said Smith used his remarks to touch on the importance of sharing ideas, embracing new technology, reducing violent crime, recruiting and retaining officers, and building trust between police and the communities they serve.
A Conference Built Around Shared Challenges
Those themes line up with priorities the IACP has been pushing nationally. The organization says it is committed to supporting the policing profession on recruitment and retention, offering tools, training, and technical assistance to departments nationwide, according to theiacp.org. The group notes that recruiting and staffing shortfalls continue to impact law enforcement agencies across the United States, a strain that has shaped conversations inside departments for years.
The scale of that challenge became clearer through the organization's own research. The IACP's 2024 recruitment and retention survey drew results from more than 1,100 U.S. agencies, according to the same source, underscoring just how widespread staffing struggles have become. Separately, the organization's Collaborative Reform Initiative Technical Assistance Center provides no-cost, customized recruitment and retention assistance to law enforcement agencies around the country, per the association.
Trust Building Is Also on the Agenda
Community trust, another topic Smith raised, has its own dedicated push within the organization. The IACP Trust Building Campaign seeks to enhance trust between police agencies and the communities they serve through positive police-community partnerships, the group says. The campaign is organized around six focus areas the organization considers essential to enhancing trust and collaboration between residents and officers.
Joining isn't automatic for departments that want in. To take part, police agencies must pledge to implement the campaign's outlined key policies and promising practices, according to the IACP. That pledge requirement reflects the kind of formal commitment the organization is asking agencies to make as it tries to turn broad goals around trust into concrete department-level action.
Orlando Police framed Saturday's opening as a moment for the city to host conversations that stretch well beyond local policing. With chiefs and public safety professionals gathered from across the country and internationally, the department's welcome positioned Orlando at the center of discussions on technology, violent crime reduction, and the recruitment pressures facing departments everywhere this week.
