The career lawman from Kentucky seeking to replace Little Rock's outgoing chief of police said he used to look at repeat offenders with a simple mentality: "lock em' up."
Kenton Buckner, 45, an assistant chief with the Louisville Metro Police Department, said that his years looking at big-picture problems in the Kentucky department lent him a new lens to see that big-picture solutions to solving crime don't lie in making an arrest or getting an offender into lockup.
It comes down to providing an opportunity for those people once they set foot out of lockup.
"Arresting people by the busload. ... that's not going to work. ... When people come back [from prison] to our community, they're looking for jobs, they're trying to get job training, they're behind on child support and they have nowhere to go," Buckner said. "So what do we do? We shut the door. ... I used to be one of the people that would say 'hey that's on you, that's your bad luck, you shouldn't have done that.' ... But it doesn't work."
Buckner is the second of three finalists to replace Stuart Thomas and appeared in Little Rock four days after the only internal candidate, Little Rock's assistant chief Eric Higgins, appeared in a forum and went through interviews.
During his informal forum before Little Rock residents Monday, Buckner argued that in order to prevent someone from re-offending, departments, and cities, need to seek out "unusual partners," ranging from church and community activists to social service and education providers.
A path to a good job is through training and continued education, he said. Without it, a city will see the same offenders back in the same place.
"That [initiative] has to come from the chief because that's the way you change the mentality of people [who think] that locking them up and throwing away the key is the answer," Buckner said. "We've tried. ... Every major city has tried it. It doesn't work."
Buckner echoed Higgins by touting several programs he's worked with in his years in Louisville and stressed that community policing, and community partnerships, only work with a proactive community.
He also said that the key to increasing cooperation in the community is to increase trust, which starts by being honest, particularly within the black community.
"Have [police] done things to the black community that we know are not right? Yes," Buckner said. "You want to start a healing process? ... The first thing you need to do is walk out and say we messed up on that ... here we made a mistake. This is what I'll do to fix that. You hold me accountable."
Buckner joined the department in Louisville in 1993, and between 2008 and 2011 was promoted four times to take on the rank of assistant chief in a department that put 400 officers and 150 civilians under his direct command.
As assistant chief over the department's support bureau, he reorganized some of his detective divisions, managed the department's crime-data analysis (COMPSTAT) program and was active in engaging both media and the public.
Buckner's salary was $115,226 last year in Louisville. The new chief in Little Rock will earn anywhere from $91,038 to $140,199.
Citing his experience in a southern city like Louisville, one with gangs, violence and racial tensions, Buckner said he thinks he can effectively lead in a city like Little Rock and counts on his seasoned, but direct management style to do it.
When discussing police tensions in the community, Buckner suggested one investment, albeit an expensive one, that could go a long way to increasing public trust -- body cameras on officers.
"It will record [the officer's] actions and the citizen's actions. If you know you're being recorded, you're less likely to curse me out ... to swing on me. ... I'm less likely to be disrespectful to you," Buckner said. "It decreases complaints, it decreases officers' injuries and it increases trust."
Several community organizers, city officials and Little Rock officers attended the forum.
Ward 2 City Director Ken Richardson said he was impressed by Buckner's direct style and "candor" when addressing the challenging imperatives of trying to get offenders assimilated back into society.
He said he thinks that, like Higgins, Buckner was impressive and seemed committed to creating more partnerships within the community.
"In my mind he had a direct challenge to the community to get involved and address these issues," Richardson said. "I was appreciative to hear his candor in response to working with at-risk youth. ... I was pleased to hear [that] you don't disband these programs if you don't have a 100 percent success rate, a 75 percent success rate ... that you still keep plugging and plugging and keep [those kids] on your radars."
Buckner will tour the city and interview throughout the day today.
The third and final candidate, John Ray, the executive chief deputy of the Tarrant County (Texas) sheriff's office, will appear at a public forum on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at The Centre at 6401 W. 12th St.
Metro on 05/13/2014