Endorsement: Marco López is the fresh start the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office needs

The killing of George Floyd has forced police agencies to re-evaluate how they do their jobs. At least, it should have them doing some soul-searching.

One of the central questions in electing a sheriff for Osceola County is which candidate shows the greatest capacity for introspection — then keep what works and change what doesn’t.

In the Democratic primary, we think Marco López, a veteran of the U.S. Navy and the Osceola Sheriff’s Office, is that candidate. (The winner will face Luis “Tony” Fernandez, a no-party-affiliation candidate, in the fall.)

López wants to establish a closer bond between the community and his agency. He’s dedicated to increasing the percentage of minority deputies and staff to serve a county whose Hispanic population is pushing 60%.

He wants to create a review board to provide some community oversight of the agency. We like some of his simple, common-sense ideas, like teaching non-Spanish speaking deputies some key phrases to help them communicate and connect with the Spanish speakers. (Interesting note about López is he speaks three languages — English, Spanish and Portuguese.)

He talks about the need for more training that focuses on de-escalating confrontations and helping law enforcers understand the nature of bias.

Law enforcement experience is important in a sheriff, but López has more than that. He enlisted at an early age and was deployed overseas. In all López says he spent 22 years in the military. At the Sheriff’s Office he was made a sergeant and spent 16 years in a variety of patrol and investigative roles. He now owns his own security consulting business.

Osceola has two other candidates in the primary, and both of them are highly qualified.

That includes the incumbent sheriff, Russ Gibson, a 35-year veteran of law enforcement. He was elected in 2016 and, to his credit, has boosted the number of minority deputies on the force, particularly the number of Hispanic deputies, which has grown from about one-quarter of the deputies to about one-third today.

He’s made strides in his outreach to the county’s sizable Hispanic population as well.

But in other ways Gibson has been late to the party. He says he wants to establish a civilian review board as a community watchdog, but he’s had nearly four years to make that happen before now. What’s been the holdup? Is it a priority now because so much public attention is focused on having more oversight?

Gibson’s also been slow in getting deputies equipped with body-worn cameras, which hold authorities and the public accountable. While many other agencies were making steady progress, it was 2 1/2 years after Gibson’s election before the office sought a federal grant to equip all of its deputies.

Gibson also can have a thin skin. It was hard to see the point of his public feud with State Attorney Aramis Ayala over the timing of arrests in an Osceola County homicide. We’re not picking sides here, but neither of the officials was demonstrating the cooperation needed to make sure justice was being served.

Mike Fisher is the third candidate. He spent nearly 30 years at the Sheriff’s Office before retiring as a captain and going to work for Universal Orlando’s security operation.

He’s well qualified for the job, no doubt, but in an interview with the candidates seemed too interested in picking fights with the sheriff.

In this field of Democrats, we think López has the best chance of establishing a balance between effective law enforcement and implementing the kind of change that will create a stronger bond between the community and the agency.

Election endorsements are the opinion of the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, which consists of Opinion Editor Mike Lafferty, Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio, Jay Reddick, David Whitley and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Sentinel Columnist Scott Maxwell participates in interviews and deliberations. To watch the candidate interviews, go to OrlandoSentinel.com/interviews.