After a series of roundtable discussions on reducing gun violence in Escambia County, Sheriff Chip Simmons is now launching an action plan that will focus the community’s collective efforts in the Brownsville area for the next two months.
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“I guess we just call it Operation Brownsville is kind of the working title to it,” said Sheriff Simmons, who recently identified the west side area as the place to start in addressing some of the underlying issues of gun violence in the county.
“Not because Brownsville is out of control, but because Brownsville has historically been an area that has had a desire to get better, a desire to clean up the Brownsville area. And, there is crime there.”
The proposed map of operation runs from Jackson Street north to Avery Street and from E Street west to Kirk Street, with the area split between the city and county.
Simmons says they’ll be bringing all available resources to the Brownsville community, from now until June 23, beginning with stepped up law enforcement.
“The Sheriff's office will work with the police department and we'll get some of the crime that we see or that we've heard about and some of the people that with warrants will get them off the street,” Simmons began.
A calendar of all events related to Operation Brownsville has been created and posted on the Sheriff’s Office website. The first event set for next week will focus on cleaning roadways and trimming trees.
“We're going to work with code enforcement. We're going to work with Keep Pensacola Beautiful (Our Corner, Inc.) and they can clean the things up and they can talk to some people, have some programs, some educational type programs. And then we'll conclude with one of our movie nights and just kind of go over what has taken place at that time.”
This operation in Brownsville, the first proposed action from this latest effort to address gun violence in Escambia County, was officially unveiled during the sheriff’s roundtable discussion on the issue last week. It was the third such event to be held since October of last year.
“We had this, what we call a rash of gun related homicides," said Simmons. "I felt like it was important to get together and say, OK, this is the picture that we have in Escambia County."
At that time in late 2022, Escambia County had recorded 25 homicides, about one-third stemming from domestic violence, with about two-thirds related to drugs and predominantly involved “black males killing black males.”
“I’m just tired of this violence,” said Sharon Gardner, whose son has been missing since 2013. She spoke during the latest roundtable discussion at the Brownsville Community Center. “I just had a cousin killed about a week ago; his mama had to bury him. And, it’s just like an on-going thing, shooting up and down the streets. It’s like nobody’s caring about anybody’s life anymore.”
“We are concerned about District 3, Brownsville; we’re concerned about it,” added Arnetha Jackson, who currently lives on Green Street, but is planning to move.
Unfortunately, shootings in the county have continued, including two incidents last week that left four people injured. Sheriff Simmons says one is too many, but added that they’re serious about reducing crime and are making some headway.
“I think we've been doing pretty good. This year alone violent crime alone has already seen a 7% reduction. That's on top of our 8% reduction last year.”
More data on violent crime is available from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
To further take a bite out of crime, the sheriff is planning to establish a Real Time Crime Center and is seeking funding for gunshot detection technology. But, Simmons says stopping crime is what’s most difficult.
“Because stopping the crime means that you intervene before a criminal act is committed. And that's going to mean a job. It's going to be an opportunity. It's going to mean mentorship. It's going to be isolating where these hot spots or these trouble spots can surface.”
And, that brings us back to the operation in Brownsville, where many positive things already are happening.
United Way of West Florida, through its 211 service, is developing a Family Resource Guide to be distributed in the neighborhoods. Florida Power and Light has begun to replace burned out street lights in the community. The Florida Licensing on Wheels (FLOW) bus will be parked in the area to help people renew their driver’s license.
Additionally, District 3 Commissioner Lumon Maysays the county has begun a number of initiatives, including the implementation of a major septic to sewer conversion in the Brownsville area from W Street to Pace Boulevard; the employment of young people to work with its Block By Block program, and establishment of performing arts and senior programs. Learn more about Escambia County's Brownsville Redevelopment District here.
Unlike other long-debated issues that went nowhere, Sheriff Simmons says he’s optimistic that this time will be different.
“I've talked to some of the other members of the roundtable, and they said, we've never had this type of a group come together. We've never had this type of group come together once, let alone twice, let alone three times.“
It was input from a host of other elected officials and residents who attended the Gun Violence Roundtable discussions that led to the action plan in Brownsville. Sheriff Simmons hopes the two-month operation will be a template for similar operations in other Escambia County communities.
