SYNERGY - Juneteenth 2022

Chief Tony Jones

Story By: Erin Butts

Police officers play an important role in society. They impact a person’s quality of life and have a responsibility to serve and protect the community. For Chief Tony Jones, partnering with the community to make Gainesville a better and safer city is a huge part of his day-to-day work as Chief of Police.

According to The Law Enforcement Action Partnership, Chief Jones began his career in 1975. He started out as a police officer, then worked in a number of positions until eventually becoming the chief of police for Gainesville, Florida in 2009.

Chief Jones became a police officer in part because he grew up seeing “isolated incidents” of injustice and wanted to help people. He is a firm believer that a positive relationship with the community is essential to solving and managing crime.

“Any police chief or law enforcement official that tells you that they can solve crime and manage crime by themselves I think is a falsehood. You have to have a working relationship with the community or people in the community that are police officers (meaning, police officers that are assigned to the neighborhood to handle crime), but if we work together we can do some awesome things in a community,” he said.

Throughout his career, Chief Jones has been involved in a number of community organizations, and has made an effort to listen to the concerns of neighbors in Gainesville.

Currently, Chief Jones is on the Board of Directors for The Black on Black Crime Task Force and The Reichert House Youth Academy. He is a member of the local Alachua County Juvenile Justice Department, and part of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement. He is also State Advisory of the Florida Juvenile Justice Advisory Committees.

Before the pandemic Chief Jones would walk, mainly through neighborhoods, on a month-tomonth basis to connect with neighbors throughout the city, “I would like to meet them where they are, instead of them making a formal appointment, [and] coming to the office, I will bring the office to them.”

These monthly walks (referred to as beats) would give neighbors an opportunity to speak with Chief Jones (or other officials), address concerns, and give suggestions on how he could make their neighborhood safer.

Chief Jones’ work, attitude, and dedication to the Gainesville community has not been without results. The Law Enforcement Action Partnership reported that his leadership has resulted in a significant drop (60-70%) in minority youth arrests.

When asked what is something he would want people to know about himself and his profession, he emphasized the community - the significance of community and his enjoyment working with them.

“Our profession is ever evolving. There’s a lot of technical aspects. There’s a lot of advancements in crime fighting … but regardless of how far, how technical, how many advancements that we’ve had in criminal justice, you’ll never, never get away from face-to-face, working with the community.”

For Chief Jones, being the chief of police means not only carrying out administrative duties and managing the assets of the Gainesville Police Department (personnel as well as tangible and financial resources), but partnering with the community to ultimately make Gainesville a safe and enjoyable place for everyone.