Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey questioned the city police’s efforts on crime prevention, telling Police Chief Lawrence Revell that the department needs to “double down on the front end.”
The remark came at this year’s City Commission retreat, held in the Parkview Ballroom at Cascades Park.
“Gunshot detection is great, cameras are great, but that’s after it’s already been shot,” Dailey said.
The retreat focused on Tallahassee’s five-year strategic plan for 2020-2024, but also covered public safety and future construction projects.
Dailey’s comments were an unusual break in the comity and even deference he shows to Revell and the Police Department’s work. City commissioners spent about 45 minutes discussing Tallahassee’s increasing violent crimes at the retreat.
There were 27 homicides in 2023; homicides last year increased 29% from 2022 , which saw 21 murders. The day of the retreat, three men were shot and killed in two unrelated incidents, one labeled a domestic-related shooting and another that claimed the lives of teenage brothers .