About the Gainesville Police Department

According to the Gainesville Police Department, “The City of Gainesville received its name in September, 1853, when the County Commission provided a site for a new town and moved the County Seat of Alachua County from what was once Newnansville.  Gainesville was named in honor of General Edmund Pendleton Gaines who was the captor of Aaron Burr and who commanded the forces fighting against the Indians during the Second Seminole War. 

The City of Gainesville was incorporated on April 15, 1869, with a mayor and council-style government. That same month, the first town marshal, P. Shemwell, was elected, with 56 of the 93 votes polled.  In 1919, the title of Marshall was changed to Chief of Police, a title which was more honorary than actual, for the department consisted of one man - the Chief.”

Today, the Gainesville Police Department is a full service law enforcement agency employing more than 240 police officers.  The Gainesville Police Department is organized into three bureaus: Administration, Operations and Investigations.  The Administration Bureau consists of The Personnel Division; Public Information Office; Support Service Division: Operational Skills Unit; Professional Standards Division; Fiscal Division; Internal Affairs Division; and, Technical Services.

The Operations Bureau of the Gainesville Police Department consists of Patrol (organized in three districts), Crime Analysis, Community Resources, Police Service Technicians; Special Programs and Analysis Division; Specialty Units; Front Desk; Traffic Safety Team and School Crossing Guards.

According to the Gainesville Police Department the Police Service Technicians’ responsibilities are to “respond to calls for service in the field where it has been predetermined that the call is not in-progress and non-confrontational.  Examples of such incidents would be after-the-fact burglaries, vehicle crashes, and forgeries.  Proactive time is spent enforcing parking violations.  Each PST is trained as an evidence technician and attends advanced courses such as Traffic Homicide Investigation and Reconstruction.  PSTs handle many administrative tasks as well as public fingerprinting requests.”

The Investigations Bureau of the Gainesville Police Department consists of Crime Investigations, Special Investigations and Crime Victim Advocate.  According to the Gainesville Police Department, the Special Investigations Unit, “investigates illegal drug activity at three levels. The Narcotics Unit investigates street-level drug crimes that occur throughout the City of Gainesville. Detectives assigned to the street-level Narcotics Unit identify and arrest subjects who are selling drugs in neighborhoods and affecting the quality of life for the residents in the area. Most enforcement of street-level drug crimes is done through undercover drug buys. The drug buys usually result in the arrest of the drug dealer and/or a search warrant being served on the location where the drug activity is occurring.”

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