Van Winkle: Paying lip service to gun violence

Letter to the editor

There has been a lot of discussion at the City of Gainesville and Alachua County Commission meetings about gun violence, and these discussions have been going on for well over a year. So why is it that gun crimes continue to plague the Gainesville-Alachua County area, and why aren’t the proposed solutions having an effect? A review of the proposed solutions and the fact that gun violence is still high in the area are proof that our elected officials have failed to implement solutions that can have an effect on reducing gun violence. Even worse, the safety of our citizens has decreased, and this violence is affecting the quality of life for everyone.

How long has it been going on?

Looking back at public meetings, we can see that the City and County Commissions have been meeting for a long time to discuss gun violence and how to prevent it. Back in October of 2021, the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) presented a strategy for how they planned to reduce gun violence in the city. Their strategy was to “build trust, invest in prevention and intervention, use precision enforcement efforts [with comments that no racial profiling would be conducted] and measure results.” Two years later, we can see that gun violence is higher than it was in 2021 and that the strategy presented has not been successful.

Our City and County Commissioners have used a lot of words to describe what they are doing or want to do. They have declared a “public health crisis” and formed a “task force,” and the City suggested forming an Office of Neighborhood Safety. A lot of other words have been used, like “priority,” “critical,” and “we mean business.” However, all the discussions have not led to a significant reduction in gun violence in our area.

Sending a message

There are many aspects to reducing violent crime in any community, but the cornerstone of crime reduction is law enforcement! Our leaders want to involve every department in the City and County governments, and they are even suggesting the creation of new departments that will require staffing and budget. However, funding enforcement initiatives with the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) and the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) is the most direct answer to the problem. 

Unfortunately, the City of Gainesville has done a terrible job in sending a clear message to the criminals of Gainesville and surrounding areas that “we mean business.” Dating back to 2020, more than 10 police positions have been eliminated or replaced with non-sworn positions. The City backed out of the Joint Aviation Unit with ACSO. Possibly the worst decision in the past few decades has been the elimination of the GPD K-9 Unit due to controversy with the arrest of Terrell Bradley. The investigation determined that GPD’s K-9 was properly used to apprehend a violent armed suspect and put him in jail. A federal judge dismissed a former GPD officer’s claim that he experienced racism as part of the GPD K-9 Unit. 

The recent memo from Gainesville City Manager Cynthia Curry to GPD Chief Lonnie Scott tells an even more disturbing story about the conditions at GPD. As published in the Alachua Chronicle, “as of September 18, 2023, GPD had 74 officers assigned to patrol shifts,” which is the lowest number in the past 30+ years. The Chronicle also published anecdotal reports that as few as 8-10 officers are available to respond to calls at any given time. A GPD shift roster from September 18, 1995, showed 14 zone officers plus a front desk officer and two supervisors. (Alachua Chronicle reported that GPD would not provide a recent shift roster “due to officer safety reasons.”) This was before the city annexed areas along SW 20^th Avenue, Butler Plaza, and beyond.

There were also concerns expressed to the City Manager that GPD has “swung too far to community policing” and that officers are merely driving around. 

The message to the community and the criminals is that the City of Gainesville is not supporting the police, and criminals from within Alachua County and surrounding areas are capitalizing on this lack of support.

What needs to be done

The most direct way to reduce violent crime is to take violent criminals off the streets – period. Not only does this help prevent future crimes, but it sends a message to the community and to other prospective criminals that the police are doing their job and that they need to go somewhere else to commit crimes. The tools for this are increased police presence at large events, investigations focused on known violent criminals, deployment of specialty units (K-9, street crimes units, SWAT Teams, and others), and participation in multi-jurisdictional task forces that involve local, state, and federal agencies. Coordination with prosecutors to follow up on arrests and put away violent criminals is also an important step in sending the right message to the criminal element.

It is also important for the community and local leaders to understand that the arrest of violent criminals often involves lawful force being deployed by law enforcement to apprehend these felons. Our police are trained in the use of tactics and weapons to apprehend criminal suspects, and sometimes the bad guys will get hurt. This is a result of their criminal actions, not the actions of the police. Law enforcement is always accountable for their application of force, but our elected officials must understand that most complaints of excessive force are unfounded.

Let law enforcement officers do their jobs

Some of the City and County Commissioners have spoken about the need to work on poverty, educational gaps, and job opportunities. Though it is important to have solid community relationships and to lift up our citizens, the City of Gainesville has focused too strongly on long-term social issues rather than keeping the community safe. Two of the main functions of government are public safety and infrastructure, and the City and County commissions have taken their proverbial eyes off the ball. Let’s let our law enforcement agencies do their jobs to reduce violent crime and make our citizens feel safe again.

Ed Van Winkle

Ed Van Winkle is a retired Captain with the Gainesville Police Department, where he served for 20 years in a wide variety of assignments, including patrol, detectives, narcotics, training, SWAT, and aviation. 

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