By Jennifer Cabrera
In Gainesville, Florida, the morning of May 21 brought significant updates from the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) during the City Commission meeting. Among the highlights, the department unveiled a shift in focus for 2026, placing a strong emphasis on combating domestic violence.
Leading the session, GPD Chief Nelson Moya introduced this new focus, marking a strategic addition to the department’s mission for the coming year. Previously, the priorities included tackling violent crime, enhancing traffic safety, engaging in homeless outreach, and recruiting new officers. Now, addressing domestic and dating violence has been added to this critical list.
Crime Data Overview
Over the course of 2024 to 2025, Gainesville saw a notable decline in crime rates, with violent crime incidents decreasing by nearly 10% and property crimes by over 17%, summing up to an overall reduction of 16.22% in crime.
Despite these encouraging figures, the first quarter of 2026 presented a different picture. The city recorded three homicides, reflecting a sharp 200% increase, with two linked to the Imeca incident and one stemming from a domestic violence situation. The same period in 2025 saw a rise in other violent crimes: rapes increased by 2.78%, robberies by 14.29%, and aggravated assaults by 3.6%, culminating in a 5.37% rise in violent incidents overall. However, the quarter also witnessed a 14.08% drop in property crimes, leading to an overall 10.48% decrease from the previous year at this time.
Click here for the full presentation.
Moya also spoke about the May 1 homicide in the Phoenix community and the shooting and stabbing homicides on Mother’s Day (May 10). The shooting victim was 17 years old, and Moya said GPD has identified a suspect; he said, “It was certainly not a random act of violence… More to come as we continue to discuss this with the State Attorney’s Office and what the ultimate resolution will be, but we have someone identified, for sure.” A suspect was recently arrested for the stabbing homicide.
Domestic violence: “an ongoing steady flow”
Moya said that even before the Mother’s Day shooting, GPD had “highlighted domestic violence as something that we needed to continue to look at now, more deeply.” He said GPD sees “an ongoing steady flow of familial violence, also known as domestic or dating violence,… [and] repeat acts of domestic violence by the same offender.”
Moya said he is putting three detectives back on the Special Victims squad, and one of them will be earmarked for domestic violence to look for any gaps in service between law enforcement, the State Attorney’s Office, Peaceful Paths, domestic violence advocates, and any other organizations involved in responding to domestic violence. He said all the organizations are doing what they’re supposed to, but he wanted to see “what we can do when we focus as a group on all lanes.”
The presentation showed that while domestic violence incidents and arrests have decreased since 2023, the first quarter numbers are on track for an increase in 2026. For example, 252 arrests in the first quarter could indicate that there will be over 1,000 arrests in 2026.
Moya said domestic violence is difficult to prevent because it happens “in one’s most private place,” and victims need to trust that the system will protect them. He said his top goal is to ensure that the victims receive services, then “there may be opportunities for offenders also to receive services, so that they don’t repeat violence.” He said he plans to bring “all of our stakeholders” together for a meeting within the next week.
New emphasis on arresting domestic violence offenders within 12-24 hours
One thing officers can do, Moya said, is make more of an effort to apprehend the offender within 12 to 24 hours after the incident instead of filing a sworn complaint. He said, “I see that as low-hanging fruit, not because I want to arrest people, but because we know if we don’t intervene with an offender who’s already victimized someone in the home, there’s a likelihood that they will return to the home and victimize again and offend again.”
Mayor Harvey Ward: “By putting everything we had to the crisis of gun violence, we had an impact. I believe that we can then take that public health approach and apply it to other issues like domestic violence.”
Mayor Harvey Ward said, “I’m encouraged by the success that we had with calling out gun violence and saying this is a crisis in our community, as it was in nearly every community, by engaging everyone, by not saying this is just a law enforcement issue, but this is a community issue, and we’re all going to work on it. We drove down gun violence numbers, and they continue to be down. Doesn’t mean that all violence is down, but by putting everything we had to the crisis of gun violence, we had an impact. I believe that we can then take that public health approach and apply it to other issues like domestic violence… We have to do whatever we can to reduce violence, and what I hope anyone watching this will hear is that we’re trying to let people know that help is available if you find yourself in this situation, and that abuse will not be ignored.”
Ward said Gainesville should not “take our foot off the gas on [gun violence], but we as a community, every level of the community, need to lean in on domestic violence.” He also said that “half or more” of the homicides over the past two years have involved “some level of domestic violence.”
Ward said, “Thank you for this. It’s tremendous. I’m very hopeful we’ll be able to make real progress here.”
Firearm statistics
Moya said stolen firearms, firearms seized, and shots fired decreased from the last quarter, but the number of persons shot, homicides, and suicides all increased.
Ward said that of the seven people shot, two were accidentally shot in the hands and several were police officers, “so other than those, which are anomalies, we’re kind of in the same territory.”
Commissioner Ed Book: “I hope we’re not seeing [violent offenders] in our community. These are amongst a very small percentage of people who don’t get the benefit of getting a second and third and fourth chance, where most offenders do.”
Commissioner Ed Book said he wanted to see “aggressive prosecution and very few options afforded to the violent offenders… We want to take them out of the community so they can’t victimize others… I know this may sound controversial, but I hope we’re not seeing them in our community. These are amongst a very small percentage of people who don’t get the benefit of getting a second and third and fourth chance, where most offenders do.”
Book added, “We’ve had a really high percentage of domestic violence amongst the houseless community,” and he said he was interested in hearing what “partners that deal with transitional housing and halfway housing and emergency housing” could bring to the table to reduce the incidents.
Traffic fatalities
Sergeant Valdez with the Traffic Unit said there have been four traffic fatalities to date (including April) in 2026, which is “kind of on par,” but she was concerned that hit-and-run crashes have increased: “It seems to be a growing trend of people not stopping after they are in a crash, whether it’s kind of scared or their driver’s license status or the insurance status on the vehicle.”
Recruiting
GPD currently has 27 vacancies for sworn officer positions, and 23 applicants are being actively investigated to be hired. Fifteen conditional job offers have been extended to non-certified officers who will enter the police academy.
Public awareness campaign
In a press release, the City said GPD is also launching a public awareness campaign focused on building healthy relationships, recognizing warning signs, finding local resources and knowing when to seek help.
The press release concluded, “If you suspect someone is being abused, report it. Incidents can be referred to law enforcement by calling GPD’s nonemergency number, (352) 955-1818. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911.”
