BY BRANDON TUBBS
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Crime trends in Little Rock don’t correspond to the gang violence the city experienced in the 1990s even though the first three months of both this year and 1993 saw the same number of people killed, Police Chief Stuart Thomas said Tuesday at an agenda meeting of the Little Rock Board of Directors.
The 16 homicides, while unfortunate and tragic, are an anomaly, he said. Thomas and his officers are going to focus on crimes and circumstances that can lead to homicides, he said.
Thomas is calling the initiative Operation Quiet Nights. He and other city officials planned to hold a news conference this afternoon to further explain the program.
Thomas said undercover and uniformed officers will target areas of neighborhoods where people are known to congregate late at night and early in the morning. Officers will be looking for information about people who shoot guns late at night, seek a prostitute, ask for drugs or who basically cause trouble. Once information is gathered, police will seek to arrest suspected criminals as information or circumstances warrant.
In part, since the Pulaski County jail is often closed, Thomas has asked U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins to seek federal prosecutions against the suspects. If convicted, suspects would serve the full term of their sentence in a federal prison, Thomas said.
Also Tuesday afternoon, the board heard Reggie Corbitt, chief executive officer of the Little Rock Wastewater Utility, and the utility’s consultant for a rate study explain the need for a 40 percent rate increase over five years. The utility says the increase is needed to pay for $182 million in construction projects. The majority of the projects, the utility says, are needed to comply with a court settlement with the Sierra Club and the regulatory requirements from the state Department of Environmental Quality that require wastewater utilities to prevent untreated sewage from entering area waterways. Before consultant Grant Hoag had completed his presentation, the board and City Manager Bruce Moore decided to set a special meeting to discuss the rate proposal and construction projects. Two dates were discussed for the special meeting, but no decision was made.
Board members wanted specific information about each of the planned projects. They want to know which projects are required, or are mandatory, and why they are required. They also want the details for a project that would provide sewer service to previously annexed areas of the city that currently use septic tanks. Board members believe the project was to have been completed already, but utility staff members say more of the work is included in the $182 million from the coming rate increase.
In the meantime, Moore will collect questions from board members so that Corbitt and the utility staff can be prepared to answer during the special meeting.