Police end 2020 with 34 vacancies
Thirty-four uniformed positions in the Little Rock Police Department were vacant at the end of 2020, 26 of them officers and eight sergeants, according to a city official.
Overall, 156 positions authorized in the city's general fund were unfilled as of December 2020, according to a presentation from city finance director Sara Lenehan's to the Little Rock Board of Directors on Tuesday.
The presentation noted that the latest recruitment school for the Police Department began Feb. 15.
Revenue for the city's 2020 general fund declined by about $8.8 million compared with the previous year, from roughly $210 million to $201 million, Lenehan told board members.
She attributed the drop primarily to the covid-19 pandemic.
City's chief equity officer starts work
Dionne Jackson was announced as Little Rock's new chief equity officer Tuesday, fulfilling a pledge made by Mayor Frank Scott Jr. more than a year ago.
During his 2020 State of the City address, Scott said the city was accepting applications for the position.
Jackson holds a doctorate of education from Baylor University. She previously served as the executive director for the nonprofit AR Kids Read and as the first chief diversity officer of Hendrix College, according to a city news release. Her first day with the city was Monday.
She will set up the city's first office of diversity, equity and inclusion, the news release said.
The establishment of an office of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as the role of chief equity officer to lead the office, was outlined in a mayoral transition report released during Scott's first few months in office in 2019.
The report was dubbed "The Scott Script."
Low-priority pot plan to be pulled
City Director Ken Richardson of Ward 2 said Tuesday that he would withdraw a measure on marijuana enforcement from the coming meeting agenda of the Little Rock Board of Directors.
Richardson has twice before sponsored a similar ordinance, which would make marijuana-related investigations, arrests and prosecutions the lowest law enforcement priority in Little Rock.
The measure failed to get the approval of board members both times.