There’s a new chief leading the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. With 22 years of experience under his police belt, Bill Schultz takes over as chief.
Originally from Michigan, Schultz rose the ranks from officer to lieutenant, captain to major, and now he leads the department. As a gay man, he says he is attuned to the diversity that will help his force thrive.
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WATCH HERE“I am extremely excited and ecstatic to take the leadership role at this point,” said Shultz, who began his police career in Fort Lauderdale in 2001.
In a sit-down interview with news media Thursday, Schultz explained his biggest priority: reducing the city’s violent crime rate. He feels building better relationships with the community is one way to achieve that.
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“I am looking to form a specialized task force to pinpoint what we can do to further impact gun violence in our community,” Schultz said. “In regards to crime, we need to have a bit more interaction with the communities to see how they can assist us in making an impact in the crime that’s occurring in their specific neighborhoods.”
Schultz is coming in after a rocky time for top brass at FLPD. Just last year, the city terminated former Chief Larry Scirotto for questionable promoting practices. This year Scirotto fired back at the city with a lawsuit.
Schultz is trying to calm the waters.
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“Especially the last three years there’s been instability at the top leadership levels of this department,” he said. “It is my goal to show that has been fixed, it has been absolutely remedied.”
Schultz is coming in at a time of big change for the department. Construction is ongoing for new facilities on Broward Boulevard. The entire force is moving to a temporary location at 1515 Cypress Creek Boulevard to help move the project along.
“By vacating the building that going to benefit the project, they’ll be able to tear down the old building which will ultimately increase the ability to obtain occupancy of our new building quicker than it would’ve been had we stayed,” Schultz said.
In fact, by late November, there will no longer be public activities at the old location until the new buildings are completed in 2025.
Schultz replaces Chief Patrick Lynn, who is retiring on Dec. 15.
