Chip W. Simmons has been Chief of the Pensacola Police Department since June 2010. He began his law enforcement career in 1984 as a corrections officer for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and was hired by the Pensacola Police Department as an officer in 1986.
Chip was born at Naval Air Station Keflivik, Iceland, and moved to Pensacola in 1973 from Key West. The Pine Forest High School graduate has an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Pensacola Junior College, a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Troy State University, a master’s degree in public administration from Troy State University, and graduated from the FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA.
He has had memberships on the Statewide Terrorist Network Group, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, U.S. Customs Blue Lightning Strike Force, as well as various youth and community boards. He was a member of Leadership Pensacola class of 2004.
Chip has received numerous department awards in recognition of his service to the community, including a Bronze Cross and the Gold Medal of Valor, which is the department’s highest award for heroism. He also has been named to the Police and Firefighters Heroes Hall of Fame, the Pine Forest High School Alumni Hall of Fame, and received the Volunteer of the Year and Sports Lifetime Achievement awards from the Emerald Coast Youth Sports Association. Most recently, he received the Mayor’s Leadership Award for 2013.
He and his wife Susan have been married for 27 years and have two sons: Christopher and Garet.