Reeves Names Grand Rapids Chief Eric Winstrom to Lead Pensacola Police

Pensacola, FL (Newsradio 92.3 -- Pensacola Mayor DC Reeves has selected Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom as the city's next police chief, passing over Acting Deputy Chief Eric Goss.

Reeves announced the decision Tuesday night and said it came down to finding the best person for the job.

"Really, what this is rooted in is fairly simple when you take away all of those complexities, which is I wanted to put the person that is best fit for the job today in this job," Reeves said.

Winstrom has extensive leadership experience, including multiple roles in the Chicago Police Department where he worked on the department's consent decree. He transitioned to Grand Rapids as an external candidate and improved staffing levels there.

Reeves said the unexpected retirement of Deputy Chief Kevin Christman, combined with the earlier departure of Chief Randall, left the department without the leadership depth he wanted.

"I feel like some of the shortcomings that we had in the previous regime was not where that person was from," Reeves said. "I think it was the lack of organizational leadership that came in. So that's what I was looking to correct."

Reeves praised Goss as a "cornerstone" of the department and said he expects him to be chief one day. He said he hopes the next 20 police chiefs are all internal candidates but the current situation called for outside leadership.

Reeves dismissed concerns about whether a chief from Michigan could adapt to Pensacola's culture, comparing the transition to military transfers or NFL coaching hires.

Winstrom will be introduced at a press conference Wednesday morning.