Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves has named Eric Winstrom as the Pensacola Police Department’s new chief.
Winstrom has been the chief of police in Grand Rapids, Michigan, since 2022 and served in various leadership roles at the Chicago Police Department for 21 years, “taking on multiple leadership roles and guiding tactical, investigative, and administrative teams through some of the department’s most challenging periods,” Reeves said.
“Choosing the right person to lead our police department is perhaps the most important decision I will make as your mayor,” Reeves said. “My focus was on finding the person who is the right fit for our community with the ability to lead PPD into the future. After much consideration and feedback from the community throughout this selection process, I look forward to working with Chief Winstrom to help write PPD’s next chapter.”
Naming Winstrom as the choice for PPD chief was unexpected by many, as the police union representing PPD officers had backed acting Deputy Chief Erik Goss for the position.
Goss, who has spent his entire 27-year law enforcement career with PPD, had vocal community support along with the union’s endorsement.
Winstrom and Goss were among the final three candidates to interview for the job. The other finalist was Brian Dugan, a former Tampa Police chief who retired in 2021.
Under the City Charter, the police chief is hired in the same manner as any other city department head, with the sole decision of who to name to the position up to the mayor, and the City Council tasked with confirming or rejecting the choice.
Reeves has acknowledged that the police chief is different from other department heads as the leader of the city’s law enforcement. Reeves pledged a public process for the decision, which resulted in a public forum, a public interview with a selection panel, and 1-on-1 meetings with city and local officials, business owners, and a group of local pastors.
The selection committee was made up of Associate City Administrator Cliff Collins, City Administrator David Stafford, Escambia County Sheriff’s General Counsel Debra Little, Florida State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police Labor Representative Daniel Harrnett, Pensacola Human Resources Director Ted Kircharr and Panama City Police Department Chief Mark Smith.
Reeves said he made the decision after getting feedback from everyone who met with the candidates, as well as additional conversations with the candidates themselves.
WInstrom will be the second “outsider” to lead the department after Eric Randall, who resigned from the department last year. Low morale and engagement among PPD’s rank-and-file led to Randall’s unexpected departure.
Winstrom’s no stranger to stepping into a challenge.
“Trust is a key component not only of leadership within a police department but also between the department and the community it serves,” Winstrom said. “I’m well aware that trust is earned and there are no shortcuts in earning it. I am eager to get to work with the team already in place at PPD.
“Pensacola’s looking to strive to thrive in an ethical way, and in a way that lifts everyone up. Policing is an integral part of that effort. Everyone wants to be on a winning team. Pensacola is a winning team, and I am looking forward to being part of that.”
Winstrom began his law enforcement career with the Chicago Police Department in 2000, patrolling public housing on the city’s South Side. He spent 21 years at the department and rose to the rank of commander in various leadership roles in investigative and administrative teams before becoming chief in Grand Rapids.
Winstrom, born in Buffalo, New York, but grew up in Austin, Texas, and northern New Jersy, described his own entry into law enforcement as “unorthodox,” during his public interview on Jan. 14. When he graduated law school he became an attorney in New York City Police Department Legal Affairs Bureau looking to reform the police department, but after working there, he decided to became a cop himself to improve the system from the inside.
His first law enforcement job was as a beat officer in a Chicago public housing complex.
“(It) really opened my eyes to a world I was not familiar with, a world where abject poverty lived in America, and it opened my eyes more about the role of policing,” Winstrom said on Jan. 14.
In 2020, Chicago experienced riots during the protest over the police killing of George Floyd.
“I was there during the riots, where I was assigned to the Emergency Operations Center as the overnight commander for about 10 days, when we had 70-plus buildings burned to the ground, 300-plus police cars destroyed, 28 murders in 48 hours,” Winstrom said. “It was a very dark time in policing, a dark time in Chicago. And so why would I ever want to leave?”
Winstrom became chief of police in Grand Rapids just as a police shooting occurred, and a group of protesters shut down a city council meeting. Winstrom said he stood in front of the protesters for two and a half hours to hear their complaints.
”I got feedback from (the officers) saying, ‘OK, we don’t know you, but you just earned our respect,’ Winstrom said.
During his time as chief of the Grand Rapids Police Department, Winstrom oversaw rewrites of use-of-force policies as well as updated training requirements that focus on the “sanctity for human life” in all interactions, according to local Michigan news reports.
Winstrom also oversaw the implementation of a co-responder model with the department having three trained social workers respond with police officers on calls when someone is facing a potential mental health crisis. PPD implemented a similar model in 2023.
Winstrom’s first day as police chief will be March 2, if approved by City Council.
Winstrom and his wife — also a former Chicago police officer — have been married for more than 15 years and have two children, ages 12 and 14.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Mayor D.C. Reeves taps Michigan police chief Eric Winstrom to lead PPD
Reporting by Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
