By Ray King
After two homicides in Pine Bluff on Thursday, First Ward City Council Member Joni Alexander was a guest on the Oldies 101.3 morning show Friday and was asked what could be done to prevent more homicides, including sending multiple officers into what Greg Horne described as “hot spots.”
She said she had been doing research and discovered that 25 percent of all the properties in Bluff are vacant, based of data she had received from Liberty Utilities.
Alexander said she would like to see more data being available on suspects besides race, gender and age, describing that as “too broad,” saying the trend is black male age 14 to 40 which could be victimizing all black males in that age group. She said more information on suspects (such as income levels, parent income levels, education, past crimes committed, and the like.
She said she “hated the term defund the police,” but believed that reform is necessary.
Alexander also talked about how the department has done so far this year in solving homicides.
Full interview
