By Ray King
When the Pine Bluff City Council on Monday voted to deal with raises for rank and file police officers and firefighters before dealing with a salary increase for the police chief, council member Seven Shaner was the only one who really voiced an objection.
Although he voted to make the change, Shaner told Deltaplex News he believed it was important to take care of the issue with the Chief first.
Shaner, who was elected to the council in 2020 and is serving his first term, went on to say that just hiring a new chief of police will not solve all the problems related to crime in the city.
After more than two hours of discussion and debate, the council tabled resolutions dealing not only with increasing the salary of a new police chief but also resolutions to increase the pay of police and firefighters, actions that Shaner described as “very disappointing.”
