Fort Lauderdale police department names new Chief of Police

Fort Lauderdale, Florida – Patrick Lynn is named as Fort Lauderdale’s new Chief of Police.

For 35 years, Lynn has been in law enforcement beginning as a patrol officer with the City of Pembroke Pines Police Department in 1982. He then rose through the ranks retiring as the city’s Deputy Chief in 2007. He then joined Davie’s police department as chief soon after where he served until 2017. Now he hopes to contribute to the department and to the city.

“It is an honor to come back and be able to do this,” said Patrick Lynn, Chief of Fort Lauderdale Police.

Chief Lynn talked about his goals for the future of the Fort Lauderdale Department on Friday. According to him, the first on his list is making himself accessible. He’s willing to listen and learn from the community to be able to move forward, he said.

Lynn becomes the top cop after the firing of Larry Scirotto last month who held the position just over six months, following allegations he unfairly promoted minorities within the department. “I am confident that we can do that in a way that promotes diversity and is a fair equitable process for everyone involved,” said Lynn.

According to Chief Lynn, there is no shortage of applications at the department. “There have been changes in the hiring process that have resulted in us presently having our vacancies just about filled,” said Lynn.

When it comes to incidents of excessive force, Chief Lynn says that will not be tolerated. “Every use of force case is reviewed. Our officers have body cameras. The body cameras are always reviewed. There is no tolerance for excessive force,” said Lynn.