Part-Time Pensacola Police Officer Arrested in Uniform After Alleged Hydrocodone Buy

A part-time Pensacola Police officer was arrested Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, by agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement while still in uniform and driving his department cruiser, after he allegedly bought hydrocodone on his way home from a security shift at Pensacola International Airport. Matthew Baxter, 47, has been fired by the Pensacola Police Department and faces felony drug charges, the department and FDLE announced Tuesday.

Baxter is charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device, according to WEAR-TV. He was booked into the Escambia County Jail on a $15,000 bond. The charges are accusations, and he has not been convicted.

How the arrest unfolded

FDLE agents took Baxter into custody in uniform in his PPD cruiser after he purchased hydrocodone on his way home from his Monday shift at the airport, WEAR reported. The station initially reported Monday night that a part-time officer had been arrested on felony narcotics charges following an investigation by the Pensacola Police Department and FDLE, with few other details released at that time.

Police and FDLE released Baxter's name, age and charges on Tuesday. His booking photo was not released; WEAR reported it is exempt from public release because of his position in law enforcement.

Authorities have not said publicly where the alleged purchase took place, who the seller was, or whether the Monday transaction was arranged by investigators. No other arrests have been announced in the case.

A tip, then a weeklong investigation

FDLE Pensacola Special Agent in Charge Chris Williams said Tuesday that the investigation began the previous week. FDLE said it had received information indicating that Baxter had bought prescription opioids on multiple occasions without a valid prescription, according to WEAR.

Williams said the case is not closed. "This is an active investigation," he said, according to WEAR. "Agents and analysts are working leads right now on this case."

The tip went to FDLE's Pensacola Regional Operations Center, the Pensacola News Journal reported. It is not known how long the alleged purchases had been going on. Williams said at Tuesday's news conference that the investigation revealed "the absence of integrity," according to the News Journal.

Who Baxter is

Police Chief Eric Winstrom said Baxter was hired as a full-time Pensacola officer in 2001 and left in 2005 to work for other law enforcement agencies, according to the Pensacola News Journal and WKRG. PPD rehired him in 2018 as a part-time officer.

As a part-time officer, Baxter occasionally worked school security at various schools as well as security at the airport. Winstrom stressed that Baxter was not a school resource officer, the full-time position that places an officer at a single campus.

The department initially said Baxter was in the process of being terminated; WEAR later reported that he had been fired.

The chief's reaction and the school question

Winstrom did not soften his response. "It's a very difficult time for the police department," he said, referring to the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias, according to WEAR. He called the case an additional, "self-inflicted black eye" from one of the department's part-time officers and said it "is very troubling and makes me very angry."

The circumstances made it worse, the chief said. Arriving to buy drugs in uniform and in a marked police car was "just extra destructive," Winstrom said, according to the Pensacola News Journal. "To be blunt, I'll say I'm very angry," he told reporters, adding that seeing someone wearing the department's uniform commit such an act was really devastating.

Because Baxter worked shifts at schools, Winstrom said one of the first concerns was whether any students could have been involved. He said that possibility had not surfaced so far but remained a concern, and that investigators were looking at all possibilities. "My instinct so far, with the information I have, is this is all adult transactions," Winstrom said, according to WEAR.

A department under new leadership, in a storm recovery

Winstrom has led the Pensacola Police Department only since March. Mayor D.C. Reeves picked him in February after he served as police chief in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and before that spent 21 years with the Chicago Police Department, rising to commander, according to WUWF. He took over a department that had been run since summer 2025 by acting Chief Kristin Brown, a 29-year veteran who moved into the deputy chief role, after former Chief Eric Randall resigned in July 2025; Reeves said at the time that the city and Randall agreed to part ways after long-running concerns about employee engagement and confidence in leadership.

The arrest also came days after Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin late Friday, Oct. 9, as a Category 2 storm with 105 mph winds. One person died in Escambia County when a tree fell on a home, and nearly 141,000 of Florida Power & Light's roughly 168,000 Escambia County customers lost power, according to reports the morning after landfall. In west Pensacola, the storm tore the roof off a gas station on Blue Angels Parkway.

What the charges carry

Hydrocodone is a Schedule II controlled substance. Under Section 893.13 of Florida Statutes, possessing a controlled substance without a valid prescription is generally a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine for each count. Possession of 14 grams or more of hydrocodone would instead be charged as trafficking; Baxter has not been charged with trafficking.

The communication device count falls under Section 934.215, which makes it a third-degree felony to use a phone or other two-way communications device to facilitate or further a felony. Authorities have not described what communications are at issue in this case.

What's next

FDLE said its investigation remains active, and agents are pursuing additional leads, leaving open the possibility of further charges or arrests. Baxter's case will proceed in Escambia County court. No court dates had been made public as of Tuesday, and it was not known whether Baxter had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.