Updated: GPD Chief Scott to resign in lieu of termination

Updated at 1:40 p.m. with comment from City Manager Curry and resignation letter from Chief Scott
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Gainesville Police Chief Lonnie Scott Sr. announced this morning that he will be resigning “in lieu of termination.”
The resignation is effective March 29, and Assistant Chief Nelson Moya will serve as Interim Chief while a national search is conducted.
Scott sent his resignation letter to City Manager Cynthia Curry this morning, stating, “You offered me the opportunity to submit my resignation in lieu of immediate termination and I requested the weekend to decide. After considering the alternatives, I have elected to submit my resignation. Nevertheless, I remain unclear as to why you believe this is necessary.” Scott went on to highlight actions he has recently taken that he believes will “bear fruit in the near future” and requested six weeks’ severance pay.
In her memorandum accepting Scott’s resignation, Curry wrote that she had “decided it is time to move the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) in a different direction.” She concluded, “We are grateful to Chief Scott for his years of service to the people of Gainesville and wish him the best in all future endeavors.”
In a statement released to the media, Curry wrote, “Chief Scott’s departure follows months of deliberation by the City Manager over the current state of the Gainesville Police Department. The past year has been marked by challenges related to issues around internal and external communication, employee morale, and staffing shortages.”
“I do not hold Chief Scott solely responsible,” said City Manager Curry. “These challenges are not unique to GPD. However, my level of confidence in his ability at this point in time is not sufficient to allow him to continue in this role. The evolution and growth of this agency, which is critical to the safety of our community, requires change in the form of fresh perspective and new leadership.”
Read Chief Scott’s resignation letter and Manager Curry’s response here.
It’s about time he realized he was a failure and was going to be canned. The Scott Dynasty is now over.
his family must be on here downvoting you lol
Did the slew of Internal Investigations come back from Ocala PD? They are public record and need to be published.
Now they’ll get an under-qualified lap dog and pronounce everything is fine.
Both Jones and Scott were under qualified. Jones spoke 5th grade English and was clearly a DEI pick. Scott was a DEI puck that blew back in their face!
typical gainesville corrupttion
bey felicia, a typical label-slapper without any contribution.
Hilarious, comment from a left wing degenerate!
Clovie and Lonnie could/would not get the shootings under control.
Both failures quit.
What else did they have in common?
Sorry, I just can’t figure it out.
Shake ups are good for this county. We need more of them.
is it totally on them, or were they getting orders from up above? who really knows. i know there have been issues with that in the pst here.
The morale at GPD was tanking, the change in leadership will be refreshing. Chief Scott is a great man, he got his opportunity to be Chief of the department he grew up in, but it’s time to move forward. I’m looking forward to Chief Moya and the changes he might bring!
He’s a disgrace to the badge he wears
please elaborate so we the rest of us can understand
It certainally doesn’t help that his son and daughter-in-law are lieutenants at the gainesville police department and pulling in huge money while having less time than most other sargents in line for promotion. The nepotism claims from the leaked city manager notes showed that gpd’s officers see corruption and favoritism going on inside that department.God only knows what other dark secrets gpd is hiding besides playing favorites.
what’s the process for promotion? I thought they had to take tests and pass interview. He couldn’t have done that for them. Longevity is not enough reason for promotion.
Morale was tanking prior to him and partly due to the city commission’s decisions as well.
They were warned about potential gang activity roughly 15 years ago. I sat in on that forum. It was deemed to be loose groups of young men. Even though they started wearing gang affiliation colors. Nothing serious. Now it’s too late and somebody had to be blamed. Take care Lonnie.
I too was apart of several “gang summits” and Community meetings located in the basement of City Hall, TB McPherson, & Eastside High School, over 20 years ago only to be dismissed and advised not to use the term “GANGS’ they attempted to redefine GANGs as Hybrid gangs, just a bunch of misunderstood youth that if the City, County, ACSB, State Attorney’s Office, DOJJ, BGC of Alachua County, Big Brothers, Black on Black Crime, Corner Drug Store, CDBG, Meridian, PAVE, 21st Century Grant would shut up and fund the Reichert House they would make it all go away, inspite that me GPPTO (Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach grant had the data that was supported by financial, physical, and statistical evidential proof
The 21st CCLC grant was never a good fit for Reichert House. We were relieved to finally be given clearance to not renew.
Why let him retire and draw a large paycheck fire him and save the money
Soooo let me get this straight. The chief wants thousands of dollars (6 weeks of pay) when he is about to be TERMINATED for some improper conduct? Wow, wish I could get paid for doing something stupid/illegal/immoral/unethical or whatever he did for 6 weeks after being fired! I bet this uy makes a ton of money in that position!!
150k-250k annually
unless you are on the inside, you have no idea that it was improper. at-will state. if he just looked at her in a way she thought was wrong she could fire him.
man you need to read and even then you don’t know all the details. There was no mention that he did anything stupid/illegal/immoral/unethical. Could be that he wasn’t a yes man or fall in line with all the micro-management BS. You never know.
I am curious to what he was going to be terminated for. The real reasons, not some hatched cover story. I know Gainesville and Alachua County are facing some tough crime problems and when you have civic groups as well as government saying 15 different reasons why crime is so bad couple with 15 different ways to fix it nothing will change. It is time to stop the baby steps with gangs. Yes that is what these groups of young men are. Gangs that are getting more and more organized and notching out territory. I can remember when Jacksonville had an assessment of their gang problems 20 years ago and were told they were already rooted in the city and were told it was to far gone to eradicate them. I hope Alachua County is not the same way but I too remember meetings and forums about gang problems here years ago. I remember being told we did not know what we were talking about and these were young groups of mens that lived in the same area just being kids. Well I’ve seen the gang colors, clothing, tattoos, and activity evolve over the past few years. And the people like Tony Jones, Scott, and others are still believing the myth of kids are just being kids. Yes change is necessary within leadership across the board. Let the cold do their jobs while there may be still hope. Remember the next victim maybe someone you know or a member of your family. Let that sink in.
doesn’t need to be a reason. could be as simple as going in another direction or whatever.
Yes there does. Public officials employment is public records. And given what consistently is being said from other comments Lonnie is a piece of work. I think it’s a little bit more than wanting to go the other way or looking funny at each other.
They police department doesn’t operate on its own. They have to do what the City manager says and what the commission says. And when the police does do something, everybody is up in arms about how the police are targeting folks. It’s a lose-lose situation. Why do you think they have trouble recruiting new officers?
This change is necessary but shouldn’t be the ONLY change. There are a few members that have been promoted for obvious reasons and are in charge. They are also contributing to the absolute demise of the agency. These “leaders” are in positions of power over divisions they have ZERO experience in. Lonnie moved EXPERIENCE out of specific divisions to move in his favorites. They make Poor decisions and play favorites causing extreme division. THESE THINGS ALSO need to end.
This stuff isn’t made up. Remember, there is a reason why in the last 2 years 4 COMPETENT members of command staff retired early and left money on the table.
Wouldn’t call Fannelli competent. He was a chosen yes-man.
Seems like a lot of this with the law enforcement around the county. Almost like whatever criteria the county is using to vet/ hire these “officials” isn’t working and need’s to change…
What specifically was the conduct? Another “Pimps n Hoes Halloween” party at the office?
The balls this guy has on him to ask for 6 weeks severance pay when he was given a sweetheart deal of “resign or be fired”. The arrogance is astounding!
Ward wanted him gone just like Poe wanted him hired. She does exactly what she is told to do. It’s a simple fix — recruit people who can do the job and stop doing what the CCOMM orders behind the scenes.
I know nothing about inner workings or sculduggery within GPD, but I suspect that Scott’s being made a scapegoat. Without major increase in support for and action by police, and change in the culture that leads to violence (both extremely unlikely), nothing will change for the next chief, who had better be ready for the same treatment.
This is the right decision, although allowing him to work for six additional weeks may prove to be more problematic than expected, therefore he should not be afforded this option.
He has been “allowed” to created a hostile working environment for years as he’s consistently given preferential treatment to his family members, unwarranted changes to schedules and positions of those staff whom he became upset with, faviortisim with reagard to promotions, berating staff, using profanity, threats and disrespect towards staff as well as a host of other unprofessional and unethical behaviors.
The City of Gainsville is better off without him, Mrs. Curry please allow your police department to get back to the business of POLICING again and get these weekend crowds under control, address these shootings and figure out a viable solition to the homeless population.
The first step should be to change the pay/scale so your department may become more competitive with surrounding hiring agencies to allow for “more” new hires and a better quality of staff.
he’s only asking for 6 weeks severance pay, not to work that long. there is a difference.
so you are okay with him wanting free money? are you the city manager?
not really, but severance pay is a pretty common thing. and it’s not totally free money. he did put in his hours.
“He has been ‘allowed’ to created a hostile working environment for years…”
Surely you jest!
Lonnie was known around GPD as “Administration’s Hatchetman”. Only way he kept his job was to bully, intimidate, and harass employees that Admin wanted cowed or gone and to send a clear unambiguous message to everyone else.
The top damn well knew he was doing this, they were a part of it.
At will does not require a reason for termination.
WE ALL KNOW WHAT ITS ABOUT!! THEY SCARED/AFRAID OF “US” HAVING TO MUCH CONTROL ON THE CITY/COUNTY!! THE “OTHERS” COULDNT TAKE IT!!🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
That’s right, the black city manager of a town that’s only 20% black, fired the black chief, who succeeded another black chief, who has a majority black command staff, and did so to keep black people out of power. Gainesville has only had black chiefs of police for the last 15+ years, but keep playing those race cards…
yes law abiding citizens are scared of east side residents. thankfully we have the second amendment. if police didnt exist, few criminals would exist, because citizens wouldnt be taking you to jail. we’d be using our 2nd amendment rights
There’s been more murders on the south west!!! Maybe if those drug houses on the PLANTATION (HAILE) that’s where the drugs a coming from and then thrown into CEDAR RIDGE!! 😂😂😂
You beat Paulie to the Award today. A black City Manager is firing a black Police Chief. The sheriff of Alachua County was black and replaced by another black Sheriff. I guess you couldn’t figure that out yourself. I think you stretching it a bit.
God you’re an idiot. You obviously don’t work for GPD and are making an assumption based off of your victim mentality. He was fired by a BLACK city manager. The previous Chief of 10 years was BLACK. Nobody is scared of “Us “. The “Us” are in charge. Idiot.
When you frivolously play the race card, it loses it value. So… good job.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Dang Lonnie you going out on ya knees begging and pleading huh?
Acting like you don’t know why huh?
Pretending to care about the community huh?
Being arrogant didn’t pay huh?
Snaking your way to the top huh?
Keeping shady officers out of trouble huh?
Allowing your baby boy Biv to roam free committing felonies huh?
And not addressing it huh?
Moving the experience out huh?
Done got you moved out huh?
You was a joke from the beginning huh?Thought you was untouchable huh?
Cynthia showed you huh?
You was a paper chaser
You left the block on fire
Tried remaining a G until the moment you expired
You know what it is, you turned something into nothing
You didn’t handle yo biz and so don’t be cryin and suffering✌🏾
sounds like you know some inside stuff, could you explain further for people who arent on the inside?
Okayyyyyy
Bravo! That made me actually laugh! So y’all can fully appreciate this work: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww9VlmXKYgs
OMG!! Hahaha! I knew my head wasn’t bobbing for no reason. It is what it is, huh!
Chief Scott left GPD years ago after being investigated for inside contract hiring for the new police building and pocketing money. Also for his part in covering up false reporting UCR codes to make crime look as if it went down. He resigned and surprise the investigation went away.
Before that as a LT and Capt he created a hostile work environment and did some really dirty things to a lot of people unless they agreed to join his clique to destroy his competition.
And even before that he put a brick through one of his family members car windshield as they were driving because they had an argument.
Everyone knows who he is but we hired him back anyway. over the last year he has pushed out experienced leaders, shifted blame to others to make himself look good, played favorites, gave his son and daughter special treatment and divided the agency. He is a disgrace and we should all be glad he’s gone. There’s still more that need to leave if GPD will ever stand a chance to get back to being a half decent agency.
I was one of his FTO’s when he came on! I know his story first hand!
And these were the good things he did. You left out Tallahassee PD they ran him off, then he comes crawling back to Gainesville and good ole Tony hires him back.
What happened Cynthia? Did you find out that Lonnie isn’t the ” Yes Man” that Tony Jones was? Good luck finding someone that will pander to you and the commissioners delusional ideas of how to run a police department.
BTW, for those making negative comments about Lonnie, check into Tony Jones instead. Lonnie is a choir boy next to Tony. ( I am not a relative nor work for GPD). I do agree that his relatives should not have been promotes. That was poor judgement.
Equity over competence and you will get the results you’ve been getting.
Why look anywhere but Nelson Moya he would make an excellent police Chief the thing I like most about him is he is not from Gainesville he has worked in other departments. Bring in new ways of doing things. He could change the good old boy system that runs rampant in GPD
GH, I have heard the same thing from officers. He promotes a positive work environment and doesn’t have family working there. He may even stand up to the commissioners and show GPD employees he has their back.
if he stands up to the commissioners, his time will likely be very short as interim Chief as well. Unfortunately.
memo to GH: I don’t know Moya, perhaps he would be good. I suspect he probably is, because they are doing a national search which probably eliminates all local candidates.
A dirty trick to disqualify Moya?
Would Gainesville do such a thing?
Google him has had a stellar career as a law enforcement officer I have met him a few times though my work very nice guy very a approachable will talk to you
Dear City of Gainesville: You cannot promote Moya to Chief. I looked up his picture. He is ENTIRELY too w***e to be a leader around here. Equity and Diversity policies say ONLY local black individuals, preferably from da hood, can be promoted. The 20% of the population MUST hold 100% of all high paying city jobs. It’s the law.
Gainesville should hire someone like our former sheriff Clovis Watson. Perfect candidate. He grew up with the Merrillwood drug dealers, and his son is a registered sex offender. Moral leadership at its finest. I only wish his secretaries had filled out the lessons to buy a mail order law degree for him, then we could elect him as our State Attorney. He would rock that job.
OMG! Hilarious.
I dont know if we will ever recover trust after this tyrants reign. The man would scream at people like pierce did. between Tony Jones and this clown, they have gutted what was once a great department.
Actually Lauren Poe started the gutting back in ‘17 when he hosed GPD in a final contract hearing. THAT started GPD’s staffing problems- it was the ‘last straw’ & lots of experience walked out the door after that. But yes- Tony basically did nothing (in true Tony Jones fashion). Cause it didn’t much involve Reichert house, which was all he cared about.
Hey Cynthia if you wanna really make Gainesville better, there’s a mayor & a few commissioners you could DEFINITELY get rid of to achieve that goal!
On another note- wishful thinking but if Moya could lure a Grady Judd disciple (or someone like-minded) to Gainesville PD…
So, if the resignation date is March 29, there isn’t any threat or IA that could impact the community or the PD. Listen, I cannot stand or advocate the way GPD handles crime/personnel. It’s asinine. Lonnie chose this position in a time/place/environment that wasn’t conducive to positive law enforcement interaction. I just really hope that the next person that chooses to take on this job really understands that this department and community isn’t always about what is “right” it is more of what the community advocates. You can’t always model your law enforcement on the community. The job of the police department is to enforce the law.
The judges need to be targeted next. They let the criminals out with a slap on the wrist so they can re-offend. Our officers are at risk every day and growing weary of the ridiculousness of the judges and SA actions.
Hope everyone realize that the Commission is pulling the strings about what police should do every step of the way. A new Chief will not get Gainesville anything new.
A retired gpd cop once told me a story about “chief” scott. He said that they (other cops) would find scott asleep in his crown victoria police car, lounging across the front seats with his boots sticking out the passenger side window
what’s the relevance to the article? Plus story has no context … was he off duty? on duty?
here’s your context “asleep in his CROWN VICTORIA POLICE CAR”. Probably was ON-DUTY at the time. This was back when no one snitched on each other.
It’s a major election year, so it’s time for window dressing! The city wokesters want to suddenly appear to care about crime, homelessness, etc — after their OWN POLICIES and OWN PRESIDENT aggravated those messes 👹🤡💩🤬🍦🍦🍦🍦D
Curry’s self-preservation instincts probably kicked in. She probably knows UF moms are writing DeSantis and asking what the heck is going on here in Gainesville. Seeing all of those students standing outside at 3 a.m. in the Publix parking lot after the vagrant nearly burned down their building may have been a watershed moment.
Keep on working? I bet Sierra1 is just on the books burning leave time until the March date. He’s also got to get Moya up to speed.
Heck, in an alternate 2024, maybe Clovis is the next Chief?? Lonnie jets back to TPD, TJ come back as an intermin #2 guy?
In an alternate to the alternate, Kurnick 497 retires, Campos 197 returns, and Ferrara 375 puts in for Chief.
Former Captain Ferrara, from what I have heard through the grapevine, would have been the ideal chief. But I am sure he lacks the proper amount of melanin to be hired by Curry or the woke Gainesville commission!
As long as they don’t make that incompetent Kurnick character the Chief of Police or bring back Tony “Dirty” Jones, anyone has got to be better than Scott!
Might as well fire anyone that is a lieutenant and on up while you are at it and clean house!!
The only person worse than Jones or Scott was clown-in-chief Poe!
I am tired of these heavy city taxes going into these clowns’ pockets!
Whatever happens next remember it’s Gainesville so it will be probably be worse. Next Chief will have to be first something for Gainesville Sun. Command staff needs a major overhaul and that will never be allowed to happen even with a new Chief, some are already sharpening their knives. The past 10 years of City of Gainesville using racism to solve racism have been a delight.
what about the communities confidence in city manager curry, we are asking for your resignation also, PLEASE SUBMIT.
Someone please explain to me why we should trust the city manager’s “at-will” decision?
I predict that a Consulting firm will be hired for about a quarter million dollars to conduct a nationwide search for the next chief. I also predict that the next chief will/must be from the following pool: non-white, gay/transgender, female….or some combination thereof, ideally a lesbian of color. Anybody care to wager?
Oh we are for sure going to get whomever scores highest on the oppressed person score. Tr@ns poc with some kind of degree in struggle sessions.
And City Manager Curry you are an idiot along with the city commissioners that support this decision.
An idiot who gets paid $200,000 + per year.
Only a fool would want to be the Chief of Police in Gainesville. The politics will ruin a good candidate if hired. The new chief will have to be a sell out and be a puppet for the commission and city manager. What we need is a Chief who is not a KISS ASS and is willing to lay it on the line for the right reasons. Get a grip Gainesville, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
First, don’t know all the reasons the City Commission chose to terminate Chief Lonnie Scott – but what I do know is that the majority on the city commission were NOT happy when Chief Scott started pointing out all the SEVERE public safety problems that were happening when they started allowing YOUNG people and others to drink ALCOHOL in the streets.
Second, the County Sheriff is ELECTED and the GPD Chief is SELECTED by members of the City Commission.
Third, when Pegeen Hanrahan started serving as Dist 3 City Commissioner, in 1997 things started going downhill with their ANTI-public safety polices and the majority’s DISDAIN for law enforcement, and morale at GPD began to suffer, and seems to be at the lowest point ever.
City Hall is the root cause of the problem.
10000% correct. It doesn’t matter who the chief is as long as that commission is still there. The real problem is they call the shots behind the scenes and all it takes is for an unqualified “yes man” (or in this case, “yes woman”) to do their bidding. There is no independence in the city manager. She does what she is told by the majority in power to keep her job and her endless stream of special advisors. SMH.