Eric Higgins joined the Little Rock Police Department as a cadet. He wants to leave as chief.
Higgins, 49, spent two years working for the department before becoming a sworn officer, and has since risen to the rank of assistant chief and is the only local candidate remaining of the three finalists vying to replace Chief Stuart Thomas, Higgins' boss of nine years.
Higgins will be formally interviewed for the job today and will participate in a forum to answer questions from the public tonight. The other two finalists -- Kenton Buckner, an assistant chief with the Louisville (Ky.) Metro Police Department, and John Ray, executive chief deputy of the Tarrant County (Texas) sheriff's office -- will be interviewed and face public forums over the next two weeks.
The forum will be held at 5:30 p.m. at The Centre at University Park, 6401 W. 12th St.
Unlike the other two candidates, Higgins is not facing a Little Rock crowd for the first time.
Starting as the department's spokesman in 2000, and continuing over the next four years as a police captain, Higgins has conducted patrol division meetings and gone to neighborhood associations throughout the city to discuss the realities of crime affecting Little Rock and to share the department's solutions, both in terms of tactics and neighborhood outreach.
Promoted from captain of the detective division to assistant chief in 2004, Higgins applied for the top job at the state's biggest city police department in 2005, making the list of 10 semifinalists before ultimately losing out to Thomas who is set to step down in late June.
Higgins is a graduate of Catholic High School and became a cadet in 1984 while studying at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
In 1986, he became a sworn officer and took his first post in patrol in the city's downtown division.
He's worn a Little Rock badge ever since.
In his nearly 30-year career in Little Rock, Higgins earned a slew of commendations and positive letters from residents, and although his personnel file includes two notices of internal investigations, he has never been suspended.
When Melvin Vester joined the department in the early 1990s, he went to patrol where Higgins was already an established veteran officer.
Vester said Higgins, even then, was goal-oriented and interested in getting work done.
"He's just one of the guys. He took calls and he was about taking care of the business at hand," Vester said. "He was kind of a no-nonsense guy. He was well-dressed and well-spoken. ... you could see he'd be the one to move up. And he had the smarts to go with it."
The pair also worked together later as detectives, but as Higgins continued to climb the ranks, Vester had more interactions with him through relations between command and the Black Police Officers Association.
Vester is the president of the organization -- which represents a membership of more than 100 of the department's roughly 550-officer contingent-- and said that Higgins has remained a calm and fair presence in the command structure.
"He hasn't shown us any favoritism, that's for sure... he's done things by the book," Vester said. "When it comes to integrity and honesty, he walked the line... We have members that are a bit worn on him because of decisions that were made but that's because he was trying to keep his honesty and integrity intact."
Higgins declined to be interviewed for this article.
Promoted to his current rank in 2004 by former Chief Lawrence Johnson, Higgins is the longest-tenured of the department's three assistant chiefs and has supervised investigations, patrol, communications, finance, training and internal affairs, and has also served as the department's liaison to the state Legislature.
Last year, he earned $99,945. The salary range for the new chief, according to city officials, will be from $91,038 to $140,199.
Beyond the police basics of arrests and investigations, Higgins' career is often defined by community service, advocacy and community policing.
Higgins helped restart the department's youth live-in camp, which gives Little Rock preteens a week to spend in a summer camp atmosphere with officers.
He helped establish the department's Our Kids (O.K.) Program, a partnership between officers, community leaders and the schools that provides mentoring for teens.
Lt. Glenn King, the head of the city's homicide unit, has worked with Higgins in running the summer camp and said the assistant chief understands the value of reaching at-risk kids early and showing them that police are not there to arrest but to help.
He also said Higgins is predictable, but in a good way.
"If he'll tell you he'll do it, he'll do it. He likes to receive input. Sometimes a chief just sends things down but he likes to get around the department. That's what it'll take to improve our department," King said. "It takes someone not afraid to go out into the community and he's shown he's not afraid to go out there."
Higgins is involved beyond the department, acting as chairman of several community and inter-organizational boards, including the Volunteers in Public Schools board, a districtwide program in Little Rock intent on taking professionals into the schools to teach and mentor students.
The program's director, Debbie Milam, met Higgins five years ago when he was a volunteer, and said the chief's personality and character helped him make connections with students.
"He has this commanding presence. He's always in a suit, always has a professional look, but when I introduced him, he didn't want to be introduced as an assistant police chief, he just wanted to be Eric Higgins and he wanted to get to know the kids," Milam said. "Watching him engage the students, he's very, very good with them. ... He meets them at their level and doesn't talk down."
Milam said that Higgins often seeks out students who have had more difficulties in school and tries to find a way to reach them and show them the opportunities that exist even if they can't see them.
That attitude, one that seeks out a tough challenge, is what's needed to help not only the department but the city prosper, Milam said.
"I think we would benefit from the community feeling like they have a relationship with their police chief. I don't think they have a bad one with [chief] Thomas, but I think Eric Higgins could grow that and expand it," she said. "He has a presence that commands respect. ... He can be tough but he can talk with the community and the community can talk to him."
David Montague, a criminal-justice professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, worked with Higgins and other state, local and community officials in a study that led to the formation of the Pulaski County Juvenile Crime Prevention Committee, of which Higgins is chairman.
He said that watching Higgins seek common ground, and common solutions with other legal and government officials showed him that Higgins was an ideal leader.
"He's willing to lead while giving people a chance to demonstrate their ability to lead in other areas. A good leader knows how to follow those people," Montague said.
Montague said Higgins was passionate not only about finding ways to have a positive effect on young residents in the county but he was also passionate about finding metrics by which they can know what more needs to be done .
"He really seemed genuine about his concern for the community. He understood the politics, the culture and the history of the county, and he understood some of the socioeconomic realities, as well," Montague said. "Law enforcement is not just about enforcing the law; it's really a public-relations role. You want to maintain the peace and you want to help the Police Department support what the city needs. ... Someone with that kind of history, and skill set and compassion for other people ... I think [the city] would be very fortunate having someone like [Higgins as chief]."
Metro on 05/08/2014