Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves held his weekly presser at Pensacola State College to announce the Pensacola Police Department’s substation at the state college and a training/education partnership PSC.
North Pensacola Substation
The substation will be located next to the PSC Police Department and will serve as a space for PPD to upload body and vehicle footage and reports, allowing officers to spend less time traveling to PPD HQ and more patrolling the streets of districts 1, 2 and 3.
“This will be a location that will allow our officers to spend more time in the field, more time in the neighborhoods on the north and northeast side of our city, and less time and commute having to head back downtown,” said the mayor.
Police Chief Eric Randall added, “It’s going to be a way to make us more effective, to be able to respond more efficiently, respond faster, and create a very unique presence not only in the campus area but here in the north end of the city as well.”
The substation is expected to open in early February 2024 and will not require any additional personnel because it will be for administrative use only.
Training/Education Partnership
The mayor announced a new partnership with Pensacola State College that will afford city employees opportunities to earn associate degrees, certifications and baccalaureate degrees. The city will offer a more uniform tuition reimbursement plan to help employees further their education.
Mayor Reeves said, “There is some existing tuition reimbursement. It’s been living really either department by department; it’s not really a consistency to dollar amount and how proactive we are. So we’re trying to really consolidate that effort.”
The city will also develop a leadership training program at Pensacola State for its supervisors, which is expected to be rolled out in the spring.
“We shouldn’t expect someone who’s never supervised someone will magically know the day that they’re hired how to do it,” said the mayor. “So instead of being complacent, let’s get proactive and start to come up with a training program with Pensacola State for every supervisor in the city.”
Reeves added, “This should really enhance our ability to make sure that our leaders, our supervisors in the city, that we’re giving them the tools that they need to be successful and for their employees and their direct reports to be successful.”
Red Light Cameras
The mayor announced plans to install red light cameras at several intersections in the city. The decision was based on data showing a high number of accidents and red light violations. The cameras will be part of a pilot program and will focus on reducing the number of accidents caused by drivers running red lights. The mayor emphasized that the goal is to improve public safety and reduce the risk of serious accidents. The specific intersections and the timeline for the program have not yet been finalized.
According to the consultant who analyzed the city’s most dangerous intersections, using red light cameras will reduce traffic violations by 60% initially and increasing to an 86% reduction over time.
The intersections with the most vehicles running red lights over a 16-hour period were westbound on Gregory Street at North 9th Avenue (33); eastbound on E. Fairfield Drive at N. 9th Avenue (30); and eastbound on Fairfield Drive at N. Davis Hwy (30).
“Our primary focus is to get people to stop blowing through these red lights,” Mayor Reeves said. “And as I joked on the radio this morning, for people that may be critical of this idea, I have a completely fail-safe plan for you, which is don’t run red lights. And that’s the main goal here is that we want to make sure that everybody’s safe, and that they’re not running red lights.”
SunTrail
The Florida Legislature budgeted $200 million for unfunded sections of the Florida Suntrail, a multi-use path that goes throughout Florida.
Pensacola’s unfunded section is from Chappie James Bridge to Bayou Chico, about 2.2 miles. The mayor has two proposals – one protected multi-use path along Bayfront Parkway from the bridge to Tarragona Street; the other from Tarragona Street to Bayou Chico.
On the protected multi-use path, Reeves said, “There would be no lane reduction so it would remain four lanes, but if you drive there now, you’ll see large wide medians that we maintain as well, but we’ll be able to reallocate some of the linear footage of the large medians and move it over to the south side of BayFront Parkway.” Translation: Narrow the medians.
North Pensacola Substation: Will the Sheriff’s Deputies have access to the North Pensacola Substation too? The Sheriff exercises jurisdiction in the city and on the PSC campus too. In truth, most of so-called “North Pensacola” is outside of the city. If you are standing at Building 5 on the PSC campus, the area to the northwest, north and northeast (starting with the yoga studio on Tippin Avenue) are patrolled by the Sheriff. Many places along 9th Avenue that people assume are in the city such as George’s, Waffle House, Walgreens, The Butcher Shoppe, etc. are “not” in the city. I once called to report a serious traffic accident out in front of Walgreens and PPD Dispatch told “me” to call the Sheriff. I told “them” to call the Sheriff. Fortunately, EMS got their first. Yesterday, three teenagers, one armed with a pellet or BB rifle, spent about 30 minutes shooting up Eastgate Park in Scenic Heights. They did shoot up into the trees perhaps at birds or squirrels. There were half a dozen other kids in the park plus people walking dogs. I also saw them shoot at the new playground equipment with each shot landing with a loud report as it ricocheted. Imagine if a pellet or BB had bounced off and hit a small kid in the eye. My wife and I spoke to PPD Dispatch three times, the last time a second Dispatcher seemed not to know where Eastgate Park was located and told me that she had no record of the first two calls, the second call when the first Dispatcher had called “us” back. In the end, it took PPD about 32 or 33 minutes from the first call to arrive at the park but just after the teenagers had left the park. I pointed the PPD Officer in the direction of the street they took to go home. Earlier in the day, I visited a neighbor at an assisted living facility on West Gregory Street. The street was blocked off by a lot of officers from various law enforcement agencies swarming all over a house. Who tells Mayor Reeves and councilmembers about crime in the city? The last report I saw posted to the FDLE website put the city’s per capita crime rate at 67.8% “above” the state level. Who tracks PPD response times in each council district and should we trust the data? In 2016, Mayor Hayward and the council decided to end public and media access to a monthly crime report the police chief gave to the council. Councilman Wu said it was too embarrassing – “dirty laundry” – and better that the public not see it. I did not support Mayor Robinson’s decision to get rid of the Citizens Police Advisory Committee. I think the city needs an independent body of citizens to objectively oversee the police and all public safety and emergency management functions and recommend improvements. I recommended the council appoint its own advisory body. It did not. Quint Studer writes in the PNJ, “When it’s time to move forward, it’s best to act based on facts, not guesswork.” Mayor Reeves should report to the council and public the PPD response times for each council district for as far back as the data exists so we can measure the impact of the substation. We also need to know how many PPD Officers are supposed to be working each patrol shift and how many are actually assigned. It’s not safe or fair to PPD Officers to make them cover multiple patrol beats as has often happened.