Panama City police cite large spring-break crowds, push for permit rules and transport van to ease patrol strain
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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 flexible," Smith said of a recent pay-realignment with HR and payroll that reduced some overtime pressure.
Why it matters: Commissioners heard that the city's residents shoulder the cost of policing events that draw big crowds from the county and beach; staff and elected officials said policy changes could shift some costs to event operators and reduce patrol burdens.
Deputy Chief Chris Shaw described the operational challenge of "migration"—when one venue closes and crowds move to a neighboring bar or parking area, creating pop-up gatherings across a roughly five-block radius. He also warned that constitutional-carry rules limit the department's tools in some armed encounters: "The constitutional carry kinda prohibits us from making those charges," he said, describing situations in which intoxicated people remained armed but were not categorically disqualified from carrying under current state law.
Policy options discussed included setting a default closing time (for example, midnight or 2 a.m.) and requiring a permit for later hours. Under a permitting approach Chief Smith suggested the city could require vendors seeking late-hours permits to provide camera access to police, hire and pay for extra officers to manage crowds and parking, and meet other safety conditions. "If they get a permit, then require them to do specialized things, like maybe require them to give us access to their cameras," Smith said, arguing that vendors should bear the costs for excess officers rather than residents.
Logistics and transport: Commissioners also pressed on delays caused by transporting arrestees to the Bay County Jail and the time officers spend clearing intake. Smith said medical screening and intake at the jail can add 15–30 minutes per arrestee and that the department is exploring a transport van insert to take multiple arrestees at once. "I'm willing to purchase it out of the forfeiture money," he said, adding that a departmental transport could reduce the number of officers pulled from patrol during busy nights.
Next steps: Staff will circulate the police presentation and related research; the chief and city manager will meet individually with commissioners over the next two weeks to answer detailed questions and return proposals at a subsequent meeting. No ordinance vote occurred during the workshop. The commission also asked staff to consult bar owners and other stakeholders before any formal policy drafting.
Ending: Commissioners agreed to continue studying permitting and transport options and to review model ordinances and stakeholder feedback before any formal action.
