Meet our Employees
On an ongoing basis, we will introduce you to various Fresno Police Department employees and volunteers.
The current page features Police Chief, Jerry Dyer.
Chief Jerry Dyer has served the Fresno Police Department for thirty years. As a sergeant, Jerry supervised several high profile units such as the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT); The Patrol Tactical Team; The Major Narcotics Unit; and served as an Internal Affairs Investigator. In 1993, Jerry was promoted to Lieutenant and served as a Field Commander; Operations Commander; and Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Police.
In 1997, Jerry was promoted to Captain and served as the District Commander in Southeast Fresno. In February of 1999, Jerry was promoted to Deputy Chief, and in December of 1999, Jerry was promoted to and served as the department’s first Assistant Chief of Police. On August 1, 2001, Jerry was appointed to the position of Chief of Police. During his tenure as Police Chief, Fresno has experienced six consecutive years of crime decreases resulting in a 43-year low in the 2007 and crime index.
Chief Dyer has also made traffic safety a top priority for his department by quadrupling the size of the Traffic Bureau, which has resulted in significant reductions in traffic collisions and fatalities since 2002. The Police Department has received national and state recognition for its traffic safety efforts to include the prestigious California Highway Patrol Commissioner’s Award; first place in the International Association of Chiefs of Police “Law Enforcement Chiefs Challenge”, and “impaired Driving Enforcement Award”; as well as six consecutive first place awards in the “California Law Enforcement Chiefs Challenge”. In 2006 the Fresno Police Department was selected by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers as the top law enforcement agency in the nation for its efforts to combat impaired driving and in 2007 the Department received the prestigious Peter K. O’Rourke Award from the National Governor’s Highway Safety Administration.
In 2002, Chief Dyer initiated the rigorous process to have the police department nationally accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. On July 30, 2005 the Fresno Police Department was awarded accreditation status and became part of an elite group of law enforcement agencies as fewer than 4% of law enforcement agencies in the United States are accredited. The Fresno Police Department also has the distinct honor of being the largest municipal law enforcement agency in the state of California to have accreditation status.
Chief Dyer has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminology from California State University Fresno; a Master’s Degree in Management from California Polytechnic University at Pomona; and he is a graduate of the California Command College, where he was recognized by his peers as the Most Inspirational Student. Jerry serves as the President of the California Police Chief’s Association and as an Advisory Board member on Governor Schwarzenegger’s California Gang Reduction Intervention Program. He also serves as a voting member of the Sacramento Regional Threat Assessment Center Governance Board, and is the Chair for the Central Valley “High Intensity Drug Trafficking” Board.
Jerry and his wife Diane have been married for twenty-nine years and they have two children; Jeremy and Janelle. Jerry serves as a Deacon and Sunday school teacher at the Harmony Freewill Baptist Church in Fresno.