GPD Doesn’t Suck
So, in a past life (can you believe it was 20 years / 200 pounds ago?), I worked the road as an officer with the Gainesville Police Department. I worked with some great men and women many of whom I call good friends. Some of their children call me Uncle Fred.

I don’t remember the exact reasons why I wanted to be a cop; but I absolutely loved it. To this day, being a police officer has been the greatest job I’ve ever had. You also never really stop being a cop. You just get in trouble if you act on it.
The job isn’t easy. In fact, it’s ridiculously hard.
Telling someone that their child has passed is something you never forget. Having guns pointed at you is not something you ever want. The crimes against children stick with you. Forever.
No one calls the police to say they’re having a good day. They call you at their worst times, when they’re in trouble, when they need help… with what sometimes is the last call they will ever make.
Most people aren’t happy when they see you at work. You may have to write them a ticket, arrest them for a DUI, and remember… when you interact with the police, it’s generally not because you’re having a good day.
When my mom got cancer, the City of Gainesville didn’t want me to take a leave of absence. FMLA was new then, and well… it wasn’t so black and white. I applied to a different agency and all of the sudden I was having “problems” with management.
This was my introduction to how the City of Gainesville treated employees. A month before my mom’s operation, I gave my two weeks and left the greatest job I’ve ever had.
Dealing with the City and the management of the City of Gainesville was a nightmare. I struck back the only way I knew and made a website, GPDsucks.com (TL/DR; it’s back).
GPDsucks was never about the men and women of the Gainesville Police Department — and they knew this. GPDsucks was about what it’s like working for the management of the Gainesville Police Department and the City of Gainesville.
To have no support. To have games played with your salary, time off, retirement. To make decisions that independent arbitrators say are wrong and then instead of fixing them, to double down and stick their head in the sand.
Great men and women have worked for the Gainesville Police Department — and they have left faster than a hot knife through butter. Why?
Well, take for example the current situation…
For the past two years, Officers, Corporals, and Sergeants of the Gainesville Police Department have been without a contract. Currently at “impasse” with the City of Gainesville over basically wages and hours of work.
The FOP (GPD’s union) and the City went to an independent arbitrator who sided with the officers… and yet, the City disagrees. In the meantime, staffing is ridiculously low. There are less cops on the road because good officers move on to departments that don’t play these games.
How many people leave GPD? Since I left the department, more than 600 ID numbers have been issued. The department has less than 300 sworn officers. This means that in 20 years, they’ve hired enough to replace the department. Twice. And yet… staffing is critically low.
Now, despite this… the men and women of the Gainesville Police Department continue to do great work, without scandal. The biggest scandals we’ve seen are some facebook posts. Think about that… other communities have true issues with their police, and at GPD the biggest problems are facebook.

These are great cops doing a great job.
These cops need your help. They need your voice.
This Friday, September 7th, 2018, please help your local law enforcement officers by attending the City of Gainesville Commission meeting and voicing your support. Can’t attend? Send an email or contact the mayor/commission directly.
Also, don’t just take my word for it…
