Residents in the South Pablo Beach neighborhood are urging city officials to reinstate a police presence at the Carver Center in Jacksonville Beach.
Located at 777 5th Ave. N., the Carver Center is a city-funded community facility that offers programming for kids and adults. The Community Assisted Policing Effort (C.A.P.E.) is a community-policing effort focusing on two areas in the city.
One is located in Downtown Jacksonville Beach with 11 full-time officers who patrol the businesses and the beach property in marked patrol vehicles, sport utility vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, on bicycles, on foot or on Segways. The other Is located in the South Pablo Beach neighborhood. One full-time and one part-time officer are typically assigned to the C.A.P.E. unit in the South Pablo Beach neighborhood. The officers patrol the neighborhood in vehicles, as well as on bicycles or on foot.
C.A.P.E. officers use community-policing methods to address crime issues and work closely with neighborhood leaders to address quality-of-life problems. They also provide safe activities for young people at the C.A.P.E. office.
Janice Smith hosts a neighborhood outreach group designed to give residents a platform to discuss issues impacting the community. She said many of the residents who attend the monthly meetings have expressed concerns that the officers assigned to the C.A.P.E. office have been reassigned.
“What we are trying to do is bring the C.A.P.E. officer back to Carver Center," said Smith. "We want them back in the community where they were established. Smith, adding that the city’s website still lists a full and part-time officer on staff at the Carver Center where many of the neighborhood children go after school to play basketball or play on the playground.
The facility is situated between two bus routes that bisect the neighborhood. One route takes students north to San Pablo Elementary while the other travels south to Seabreeze Elementary. In between the two stops is the Mission House, a day center that offers meals and other resources to the city’s homeless population.
“I understand that most people might say the parents need to be at the bus stop, but there’s going to be a child or two without a parent there,” Smith said. “We can’t change the time the buses come. Why can’t we at least have an officer part time in the mornings and afternoons Monday through Friday when the kids are out here?"
On a rainy day, Smith said, it’s not uncommon for the homeless to gather under the pavilion near the playground to get out of the rain. She said residents are concerned that the perception of public safety is diminished without an officer on site to help protect the children from danger.
“Some of the children are going to stop in that park to play and guess who else is going to be there? The homeless,” she said. “It’s a deterrent. I know we shouldn’t be judging people, but a police presence makes people act better. It’s a precaution.”
Mayor Chris Hoffman said Tuesday that a “funding issue” with the Community Development Block Grant was behind the city’s decision to cut the C.A.P.E. positions in South Pablo Beach. Whether or not she would support reinstating the position would be dependent on a number of factors, including any budgetary constraints that could affect the police department’s annual recommendations.
The C.A.P.E. program was established by former elected officials Margaret McQueen and Bennie Furlong. McQueen was the first African American elected to the Jacksonville Beach City Council in November 1991. She was well-known for her community involvement, helping to enact legislation to build the city hall and police headquarters, and organizing the C.A.P.E. program.
Her youngest daughter, Tina McQueen, said her mother was a phenomenal woman who was known for her service to her community long before she was elected to office.
“She helped everybody in the community before she was a city councilwoman,” she said.
Born and raised in Jacksonville Beach, McQueen saw the issues of drugs, crime, and poverty eroding local neighborhoods. In 1989, she spearheaded the Jacksonville Beach Community Action Co-op to address community issues of crime, and to further increase the cooperative partnership between citizens and police.
“She always taught her children to do their best,” said McQueen’s daughter, Mable McQueen. “She decided to get active in her community in things that were not accepted of a woman in her community and see if she could make a change.”
June 13, 2026
