Jerry Dyer

Dyer was born in Fresno, and moved to Fowler, California, in 1964. He graduated from Fowler High School in 1977. He served as a police officer in the Fresno Police Department for 21 years before being named chief of police in 2001.[1] He identifies as a Republican.[2]

In 1985, Dyer was alleged to be involved in an extra-marital relationship with a 16 year old minor.[3] The accusations were never made public, and internal investigations led to no criminal charges against Dyer. According to an anonymous police source, Dyer admitted to having sex with the minor. In a 2001 Fresno Bee interview, Dyer refused to talk about the allegations, replying, “All I can tell you is that the relationships that I have had outside of my marriage, when I was a young man, have been dealt with. ... God’s forgiven me. My wife’s forgiven me. This department’s forgiven me and looked into a lot of things in my past.”[4]

In 2001, deputy chiefs Robert Nevarez and Sharon Shaffer[5] filed a lawsuit against Dyer. He was accused of creating a hostile work environment in the Fresno Police Department through making several racially and sexually insensitive comments. Fresno City Hall settled the lawsuit, paying $200,000 collectively to Nevarez and Shaffer.[6]

Dyer served as police chief for 18 years. He ran in the March 2020 election to succeed Lee Brand as mayor. He received a majority of the vote, bypassing the need for a runoff election.[7] Dyer is the second former Fresno police chief to run for mayor and be elected after Mayor Truman G. Hart.

Dyer and his wife, Diane, have two children.[1]