PENSACOLA, Fla. — More than 1,500 newly hired law enforcement officers in Florida are getting a $5,000 sign-on bonus.

The bonus is from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ law enforcement recruitment bonus program. He says this money will attract and retain new officers. That includes those relocating to Florida from other states.

WEAR News spoke with law enforcement agencies throughout Northwest Florida to learn how its impacted them since the program started back in 2022.

“So the money means one thing, but just knowing that you’re appreciated, that you’re valued by the community that you serve, is really the biggest incentive,” Pensacola Police Chief Eric Winstrom said.

“It does give us something to tell a new officer that they want to come and work with us that there is a possibility of getting some extra money,” Gulf Breeze Police Chief Rick Hawthorne said.

The one-time $5,000 bonus is attracting officers to sign on from both in and out of the state.

Since 2022, the program has awarded nearly 12,500 new law enforcement officers more than $83 million in bonuses.

At the Fort Walton Beach Police Department, Chief Robert Bage says recruitment is one of the biggest problems they face, and this money helps.

Twenty of his officers have received payment from the program since 2022, including some from South Alabama.

“About five of the twenty have come from out of state,” Bage said. “I know that the incentive in talking to some of them, is what enticed a few people that were out of state.”

DeSantis’ broader initiative is to make Florida known as the nation’s law and order state.

In Pensacola, eight new officers will be sworn in Thursday at the Bayview Community Center. Three are from out of state, and are eligible to receive the bonus.

“When you’ve worked in a place, like I have now, two places, where policing is politicized unfortunately, it really is demoralizing for the police officers,” Winstrom said. “And you’ve got thousands and thousands of police officers from across the country that are now looking at Florida and seeing here’s a place that values the police, that appreciate the police, are now politicizing the police, this is a place I want to be a police officer.”

WEAR News also reached out to Escambia and the Santa Rosa County sheriff’s office. They provided information on all officers who have participated in this recruitment bonus payment program.

“Since January 1, 2026, we have had eight (8) eligible employees of which five (5) elected to participate in the program. In 2025, we had nine (9) eligible employees of which nine (9) elected to participate,” the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office said.

According to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, 134 officers have qualified for the recruitment bonus payment program since 2022.