On Wednesday, Gainesville Police Advisory Council met at City Hall to address gun violence, traffic related incidents and highlight the department’s vision going forward.
Both the council and Gainesville Police Department highlighted major concerns threatening the city's safety and discussed progress and potential solutions.
“I’d like to believe that we’re leading in transparency, so that not only this group, but everybody in the organization understands the why- why we develop policy, why we want certain things done,” said Nelson Moya, chief of police, as he opened the chief’s update.
Moya started serving as interim chief in 2023, and was selected to be Gainesville’s new chief in September. He will be publicly sworn in on Nov. 21.
Moya spoke on improving three areas that are central to his vision and goals as the new chief of police. Reducing gun violence and crime, increasing police engagement and managing traffic-related issues are top priority for the department.
Moya said GPD has made progress in lowering gun related violence. From the third quarter in 2023 to the third quarter in 2024, GPD saw a decrease in crime, which they expect to be 10% to 11% at the end of the year.
“A lot of that has to do with many factors, including the function that you serve, because of your outreach in the community,” Moya said, addressing the council, “So the more informed that you are as to what happens that’s going on in the city and the police department, it helps the cause."
As the chief recognized, the Police Advisory Council is highly involved in the Gainesville community and has concerns and suggestions of their own for bettering the city.
Jeanna Mastrodicasa, a long time council member, brought up an issue that she worries about in her neighborhood.
“I can hear motorbikes racing,” she said, “There’s no way that’s regular driving and people being safe.”
Joshua Pittman, a new member of the council, questioned if increased police presence in high traffic areas would solve this.
Chief Moya responded by explaining it may cause more dangers if patrol officers race to catch the motorbikes that can navigate in much smaller spaces and side streets. He also assured the council that the department is doing all they can to decrease traffic incidents.
“Our patrol officers are responsive to those identified spots,” Moya said, “They may sometimes be in places that are not main intersections, oftentimes, or cut throughs. You’re looking at hundreds of increased patrol stops over the last few months.”
Council member Bob Cohen brought an idea to the group to increase safety in the neighborhoods surrounding the University of Florida. Cohen lives near the campus and said partying has always been an issue for his neighborhood.
“I’m wondering if we could ever work out an arrangement with the University Police Department for them to respond to party patrol,” he said. “The University Police Department has authority you guys don’t, and they can refer students to disciplinary action on campus.”
Moya highlighted the Gainesville Police Department has a great relationship with the University Police Department, but noted that crossing into other jurisdictions can cause issues. He said that anything is possible and with collaboration with the UPD, they could reach a solution.
While Moya and the department said they have made significant progress in the last year, they are still looking to the future.
Moya reinforced his continued aim is to enforce the law, increase community engagement and recruit new officers to support these initiatives.
“We ask our folks to take those opportunities when presented to them to seize the moment and engage,” Moya said. “We ask them to take care of each other.”
The council is currently still running, despite the passing of HB 601, which aimed to limit citizen oversight councils of police departments.
The council’s next scheduled meeting is Nov. 20.