By Susannah Bryan
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Fort Lauderdale has hired a new police chief just 19 days after the firing of former Chief Larry Scirotto.
City Manager Chris Lagerbloom, who embarked on two national searches to find Scirotto, moved quickly in hiring former Davie Police Chief Patrick Lynn to lead the department.
Lynn, who will earn a $200,000-a-year salary, takes over as chief on April 4.
A longtime chief in Davie, Lynn is no stranger to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. He served as interim chief last year while the city conducted its search for a new chief.
Lynn, 59, left the department not long after Scirotto was hired in mid-August. Scirotto was the department’s first gay chief and is also biracial, the son of a white mother and Black father.
At the time, Mayor Dean Trantalis said the city was counting on him to bring systemic change to a department that employs 530 officers and 179 civilians.
Scirotto, 48, had been on the job for only six months when he was fired on March 3 amid allegations of promoting minority officers based on skin color — a claim he denies.
The chief he was hired to replace, Rick Maglione, was demoted in July 2020 after praising cops who fired rubber bullets at protesters in a clash that embarrassed the city during a fierce national debate over police brutality. Maglione, who was promoted to chief in January 2017, now works as a major with the department.
On Tuesday, Lagerbloom sent a text explaining why he turned to Lynn to lead a department that’s been rocked by change over the past couple years.
“I enjoyed Chief Lynn’s leadership style, his calming presence and his stellar record in policing when he was our interim,” Lagerbloom said. “There was no reason to conduct a national search. He is the best candidate to lead our department forward.”
Lagerbloom described Lynn as a stabilizing figure last year while the department was looking for a new leader.
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“He has the respect and support of the command staff and the rank and file,” Lagerbloom said. “I reached out and asked if he’d be willing to come out of retirement, and thankfully, he said yes.”
Mayor Dean Trantalis says he has high hopes for the new chief.
“We had a good experience with Patrick Lynn as interim chief,” Trantalis said. “The city manager made that choice to fill the void with someone whose talents he could rely on. I’m very hopeful the new chief will be able to fulfill the duties he will be assigned.”
Lynn brings 35 years of law enforcement experience to the job.
“Fort Lauderdale PD is an excellent department with excellent people,” Lynn said in a prepared statement. “For me, it’s an honor to have the opportunity to serve with them.”
Lynn began his law enforcement career as a patrol officer with Pembroke Pines in 1982 and rose through the ranks before retiring as deputy chief in 2007. He then moved on to the Davie Police Department, where he served as chief from 2007 to 2017.
His accomplishments include revamping the hiring process and Internal Affairs division to ensure compliance with state law, increasing minority recruitment and hiring community-focused personnel. Lynn holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in public administration from Florida Atlantic University. He is a graduate of the 210th Session of the FBI National Academy and the Southern Police Institute Command Officers Course.
He has also served as president of the Broward County Chiefs of Police Association.
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan
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