The United Citizens for Pine Bluff civic group launched a grassroots initiative to combat crime and the perception of crime in Pine Bluff Thursday morning at Pine Bluff City Hall.
Co-conveners Kymara Seals and Representative Vivian Flowers joined Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington and Chief of Police Kelvin Sergeant to announce the launch of a survey of citizens in Pine Bluff in order to gauge current attitudes and perceptions of crime in Pine Bluff, then to use the facts collected to make recommendations for solutions that are broad-based and community oriented.
Seals stated that crime in Pine Bluff is not just an issue for the local law enforcement agencies to deal with, but for the citizens to deal with as well.
Representative Flowers said that crime is not specific to Pine Bluff, but the city has to understand what the problems are and must work with elected officials to help solve the issues.
Flowers stated that the survey will help show what the real problems are and will give data to help make ways to combat the problems in Pine Bluff.
Flowers also stated that in many cases citizens have failed the children in Pine Bluff, and it is a priority to reach younger people to keep them out of a life of crime.
Pine Bluff Police Chief Kelvin Sergeant said his department will open up it’s data to work with the group in their efforts to help solve crime in the city.
Mayor Shirley Washington said this is something that is needed in Pine Bluff.
The survey will host 42 questions for anyone 13 and older. The survey will be available in both English and Spanish. CLICK HERE to complete the survey.
