By Ray King
Pine Bluff Police Chief Kelvin Sergeant said Wednesday that the city had a “relatively quiet” Labor Day weekend.
During a meeting of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee that was conducted remotely, Sergeant said a saturation campaign Saturday and Sunday was scaled back a little on Monday “because the volume (of people on the street) was not as big. We had a relatively good weekend.”
The day before the weekend began, three homicides were reported in three different parts of the city and police have made arrests in two of the three so far.
Sergeant also talked about things he said would help the department when it comes to reducing crime, mentioning specifically a surveillance tower (like the one Jefferson County has), license plate readers and a network of surveillance cameras that could be placed at major intersections and hot spots.
Asked by Council member Joni Alexander what the council could do to help his department, Sergeant said he would like to see a program that would allow more citizens to acquire outside surveillance cameras, perhaps by using one company and the more cameras that are bought, the cheaper the price would be. He mentioned the City of Bryant where home security camera owners are registered with the police department and the department can contact them in the event of a problem in that area to see if the camera picked up anything.
Fire and Emergency Services Chief Shauwn Howell responded by saying that the council could help by trying to see that his department has the resources it needs to do the job. “To sum it up, it’s resources,” Howell said.
Mayor Shirley Washington said a lot of changes in the culture of the community, mentioning racing in particular. Another member of the committee, Council member Ivan Whitfield was formerly head of the council’s Traffic and Aviation Committee and during his tenure, frequently discussed the idea of a racetrack in the county since a racetrack inside the city limits is illegal.
The Mayor said not only would it offer an outlet for those people who have been racing on the streets, it would generate dollars.
She also brought up the idea of the city having its own impound yard for vehicles that are towed and asked Sergeant to check on the legality of holding cars in impound for those drivers who received tickets until the driver goes to court. That would reduce the number of people who are issued tickets and don’t show up for court, generating a failure to appear warrant.
Howell said work is nearly complete on the new fire station across from the Saracen Casino, with the telephone, internet and radio communication systems being installed this week. He said furniture has been ordered, although there may be some last-minute things that will need to be purchased.
Committee Chairman Win Trafford said the ideal situation would be for firefighters to be in the new station for a couple of weeks before the grand opening which is planned for October.
Asked about manpower, Howell said the department has seven vacancies and the written exam was being given Wednesday. In addition, there are nine firefighters who are in training at the Fire Academy.
Sergeant said the police department has 15 vacancies currently. Four new officers were just hired and will go to the Police Academy Monday and three others just graduated from the academy.
At the meeting, Washington also announced that Marcus Graydon, who has been the interim director of Animal Control was being named the permanent director.
