Chief hopeful touts community

Solution to city’s crime woes is strengthening bonds, he says

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MELISSA SUE GERRITS - 05/08/2014 -  Dan Oberste asks a question to Eric Higgins during a public forum May 8, 2014 at the Center at University Park. Higgins in running for LRPD chief.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MELISSA SUE GERRITS - 05/08/2014 - Dan Oberste asks a question to Eric Higgins during a public forum May 8, 2014 at the Center at University Park. Higgins in running for LRPD chief.

Friday, May 9, 2014

The only local lawman in the running to be Little Rock's next police chief said the recent surge in homicides in the city is a symptom of a problem, not the problem itself, and an indication of the cooperation needed between the Police Department and the community going forward.

Assistant Chief Eric Higgins, 49, fielded questions and offered solutions to the problems facing the department and the city, solutions that he said require more than "partnerships" between the department and community, but real, enduring "relationships."

"Right now, people say 'my gosh, look at all the homicides that occurred. Twenty-four homicides, that's a shame, that's terrible,'" Higgins said. "I challenge us to [speak] when it was one homicide, two homicides, what was said? As a community, we have to decide what type of community we want."

Throughout the informal forum Thursday evening, Higgins offered solutions tied to community outreach and community policing, and pointed out that as a Little Rock native and a lifelong member of the Police department, he has the knowledge and ability to make community policing more than a concept.

Higgins pointed to the department's summer youth live-in camp and Our Kids, programs he helped establish and champion, as steps that need to be replicated to strengthen bonds between the department and the community, and to instill trust and good feelings.

The city's crime problems can't be wrangled by brute force or smart tactics, Higgins said. Instead, the solution lies in intervention and making sure officers are positive influences in neighborhoods, he said.

"Arrests are not the solution to the problem. ... Arrests are part of what we do, but we can't arrest ourselves out of crime," he said. "It's generational. ... How do we fix it? As a police agency we can't do it alone. ... It's my desire that we increase our relationships with the community. ... We've got to address the issues with the kids together."

Higgins joined the department in 1986 and has been an assistant chief for 10 years and currently makes $99,945.

Beyond specific initiatives, Higgins emphasized that to improve the department and the city, community policing needs to be more than a strategy. It needs to be a mind-set.

Higgins said the department's "community policing" approach has been marginalized by the idea that policing is a "profession" where some make arrests and stop bad guys while a few people talk to the community. He thinks the department has, over time, strayed from what matters.

As an example, he talked about his time training as a new officer in the mid-1980s, and how he and his supervisor often stopped the car to mingle with neighbors or even play basketball with kids.

"We as a community law enforcement agency, we didn't really embrace what community policing really was," Higgins said. "It's the entire department. It's the attitude of [all] the officers to understand that we are a part of this community."

Beyond community policing, Higgins said that if he is picked as chief, he will invest more in technology. The past few years have produced big gains in terms of high-tech gear and crime-data tools, he said, but he wants to expand that and get the department into the habit of using social media to interact with the community.

When asked by a patrol officer what he would do to improve morale in the patrol divisions, Higgins said that while every division needs more officers, he thinks giving patrol divisions more staffing, and thus more time to work calls and interact with residents, is a priority.

Members from the city's Racial and Cultural Diversity Commission stated that there are apparent racial divisions in the department, and they asked Higgins what he would do to unify the department.

Higgins said the best answer is common decency.

"Is [racial tension in the department] as bad as some people say? Probably not. But perception is a reality, and we have to deal with it," Higgins said. "The important thing we can do as a chief in the administration is treat people equally, treat people fairly, respect one another and demand that from your staff and try to get it to go all the way down to how we treat people in the community."

The city will host two more finalists for the chief's position at similar forums next week at 6401 W. 12th St. Both forums will start at 5:30 p.m.

On Monday, Louisville (Ky.) Metro Police Department Assistant Chief Kenton Buckner will appear.

On Thursday, Executive Chief Deputy for the Tarrant County (Texas) sheriff's office John Ray will appear.

Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas is to retire in late June. The pay for the new chief will range from $91,038 to $140,199.

Metro on 05/09/2014