In front of a nearly empty room Wednesday, Ken Richardson challenged his fellow Little Rock city directors and the broader community to respond to one of the most violent weekends in the capital city this year.
Three Police Department representatives, activists and city leaders attended an Arkansas Stop the Violence news conference Tuesday intended to highlight the lack of response and aid in solving five homicides that occurred in 53 hours over the weekend.
Four people were found suffering from gunshot wounds near West 14th and Washington streets Friday night. Three of them died. Hours earlier, police had responded to a shooting just blocks away on West 17th Street. A man had been killed there, too. And less than 48 hours after the triple-homicide, officers again were on the scene of another shooting death.
In the wake of the violence, Richardson said the city directors needed to hold an emergency news conference to show Little Rock residents that every homicide matters. After a mass shooting at a nightclub in downtown Little Rock where 28 people were injured on July 1, 2017, the city held an emergency news conference to address the violence. Richardson said there has not been one since.
"We had five homicides -- five in 53 hours. No emergency press conference. No statement. No commitment. No message from the city whatsoever," he said. "What we end up saying is homicides are OK as long as it happens to one group of people, as long as it happens in one part of our community."
Richardson raised his concerns at Tuesday's Board of Directors meeting but said he received no response.
"Unfortunately, after I made my statement last night, all I heard was crickets," Richardson said. "I don't know if we're going to see anything, to be honest. I don't know how you can train somebody to develop sympathy and empathy for people they don't connect with. That's a reality we're faced with."
Mayor Mark Stodola said in an interview Wednesday that a news conference does not solve crimes. Instead, Stodola said the many community programs the city has put in place to raise awareness of violence and to aid job seekers will help curb violence.
"Holding press conferences for the sake of holding press conferences does not take kids off the street," Stodola said. "Our community programs -- that's what gets kids off the street and keeps them safe."
Stodola pointed to the $50,000 reward the Police Department put forth from seized funds to encourage residents to provide information on the triple homicide, and the Little Rock for Life plan announced last year as evidence of the city's efforts to reduce crime. Little Rock for Life is a six-point violence-reduction strategy and community rehabilitation plan the city implemented last year after the mass shooting at Power Ultra Lounge.
"This was a terrible weekend, but the homicide rate is down over 34 percent," Stodola said. "To suggest that there's a lack of passion on the part of the board members is totally disingenuous and wrong. Director Richardson's emotions got to him. He knows his colleagues care. I think it was unfortunate that some of those things were said, and I respectfully disagree with some of the conclusions that were drawn."
Richardson said that when the city does not respond to such acts of violence, the residents of neighborhoods plagued by crime feel devalued, making it unlikely that they would step forward with information for police or become involved in community efforts to deter crime.
The nearly empty room in Greater Trinity Church on Wright Avenue, Richardson said, was an example of the community apathy.
Arkansas Stop the Violence's Rev. Benny Johnson along with activist Ean Bordeaux lamented what they called a "no snitching" mentality in some neighborhoods, saying that refusing to give information to police only perpetuates crime.
Three representatives of the Police Department sat in on the news conference and said they were there to show support for Arkansas Stop the Violence's cause.
"The things they're saying are spot on," interim Chief Alice Fulk said during the event. "We want to be a part of this community ... We can't totally arrest and police ourselves out of this."
Metro on 11/22/2018