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Panama City police cite large spring-break crowds, push for permit rules and transport van to ease patrol strain
Summary
Police presented March data showing thousands of calls, roughly $23,106 in overtime and hundreds of arrests tied to late-night venues; officials discussed requiring permits for late-night operations, vendor-funded officers, and buying a transport ("paddy wagon") to reduce patrol hours lost to jail intake.
Chief Mark Smith told the City Commission at a virtual April workshop that March spring-break activity tied to late-night venues produced heavy demands on Panama City police, including traffic congestion, crowding outside clubs and a spike in calls for service. "On this particular night ... we had 195 traffic stops, 19 arrests with 1 DUI," he said, citing activity around venues such as Vibes, Bambi's, The Dive, Oasis and Gold Nugget.
Smith said the department logged week-by-week call counts presented to commissioners (the slides showed roughly 1,655; 2,168; 1,347; and 2,055 calls by week in March) and estimated nearly 2,000 traffic stops for the month. He reported that the department spent $23,106 in overtime to staff enforcement during peak weekends and said arrests for March approached the high hundreds. "We were able to make their shifts more…
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