Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves provided an update on the city’s red light camera program and the search for a new police chief during his weekly press conference, revealing that one intersection accounts for nearly a third of all traffic violations while the city navigates a deliberate selection process for its next law enforcement leader.
Traffic Safety Crisis at 9th and Gregory
The city’s red-light camera system issued 26,085 citations between Feb. 1 and Oct. 31, with one approach at 9th and Gregory emerging as Pensacola’s most dangerous intersection by a significant margin.
“When you have four approaches, Ninth and Gregory is 8,274 for one approach,” Reeves said. “So with a quarter of the directions, just the one westbound area, there’s more there than the next largest intersection that’s tracking all four approaches.”
To put that in perspective, the mayor noted that all four approaches at 9th and Bayou near Sacred Heart and Publix combined generated 7,777 citations—nearly 500 fewer than the single westbound approach at 9th and Gregory near the Bay Center.
The traffic concerns extend beyond red light violations. Reeves expressed alarm about increased fatalities, particularly involving motorcycles, in the Gregory Street corridor coming off the Chappie James Bridge.
- “We’ve seen an abnormally large amount of activity that we don’t want to see coming off of the bridge,” the mayor said. “The fatality and crash data that’s happening, especially in the 14th and Gregory area as you come off the landing and the bridge, is alarming for us.”
Program Results Mixed
When asked about accident reductions at the five camera-equipped intersections, Reeves reported relatively flat numbers overall, with three intersections seeing decreases and two seeing increases, including one intersection up by approximately 10 accidents year-over-year.
An unexpected problem has been that the sheer volume of violations has required significant staff time to review. “Our traffic team is probably spending more time having to go through 26,085 red light citation,” Reeves acknowledged. The city is exploring whether some calls about citations could be routed to the 311 system.
The mayor firmly rejected the use of artificial intelligence to adjudicate violations, insisting on human review for each case.
Police Chief Search Progresses
City Administrator David Stafford and Deputy City Administrator Cliff Collins are leading the search for Chief Eric Randall’s successor, with another meeting scheduled to outline the selection process, including whether committees will be involved and what portions will be public-facing.
The police union recently sent a letter endorsing Deputy Chief Eric Goss, who has applied for the position.
“Deputy Chief Goss has been here a long time and certainly no surprise to me that his colleagues feel strongly about him,” Reeves said. “Obviously he’ll be in that process and more to come.”
The mayor emphasized the city is not operating under a time crunch, even with Interim Chief Kristin Brown’s planned retirement approaching. “We certainly aren’t going to ever put ourselves in a position to be rushing a final decision on who the chief of this police department’s going to be.”