Mike Simmons
M name is Mike Simmons. I am the director of the George Stone Criminal Justice Training Center in Pensacola, Florida.
I am a second-generation Pensacola Police Officer. My father, Jim Simmons, joined the force in March 1964. It follows then, that I spent a lot of my childhood in the halls of the police station. I remember the old timers and I made my mind up that I wanted to be a Pensacola Police Officer when I grew up.
Because my father was a member of the force, I joined the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department as a correctional officer on April 26, 1982. After my father passed away, I was hired by the Pensacola Police Department on January 2, 1986. In 1994, I took on the position of Department Historian. I retired 29 years after I started, on January 2, 2015.
My wife Jerri and I live in Pensacola. We have three grown children – Jason, Matthew and Kimberly and seven grandchildren who I gave “John Wayne” nicknames to: Duke, John-T, Big Jake, Hondo, Filly, Angel, and Stryker.
Besides the stories I post on this website, I write book. I have written seven – mostly on the history of police. I have also written a children’s adventures book starring my grandchildren!