The Pulaski County sheriff's office wants to get back out on the baseball field.
A proposed ordinance sponsored by Pulaski County Justice of the Peace Julie Blackwood and championed by Sheriff Eric Higgins would provide grant funding for the department to partner with the Junior Deputy baseball program.
According to Higgins, after providing funds for the program for over half a century, the sheriff's office has been uninvolved in running the program for the past few decades. The ballpark has been operating independent of the sheriff's office since the '90s and is affiliated with Little League Baseball.
"Over time they got a separate 501C3 and the sheriff's department provided a little bit of staffing," Higgins said. "I think the last staffing they provided, from what I understand, is maybe a grounds person was the last bit of money they provided. By the end of the '90s or early 2000s, there was no official connection with junior deputy ballfield."
One of Higgins' goals after being elected sheriff was rebuilding the relationship with Junior Deputy Baseball. According to Junior Deputy Park Manager Jeff Poe, the sheriff immediately got to work on rebuilding the relationship after taking office, meeting with the Junior Deputy Baseball board about renewing the partnership between the law enforcement agency and their program.
The pandemic put a hold on many things Higgins wanted to do including a renewal of the agreement with the baseball program, but he hopes the funding coming through the Quorum Court, a proposed $600,000 over three years, will jumpstart things.
Baseball has always been a part of the Junior Deputy Program in Pulaski County since its inception in 1947 by then-Sheriff Tom Gulley.
"He was a minor league baseball player, and he used sports to connect with the kids and mentor them," Higgins said. "And so, he had a pretty good junior deputy program."
The Junior Deputy Baseball Park was built by the county for the program at 2400 Cantrell Road, where it remains an integral part of the program.
Higgins said he hopes the program will build a bridge between the sheriff's office and the community.
"I think, by engaging in the community in a positive way, it's going to help to build a relationship [with the community]," Higgins said. "Because it's not just with the kids. It's with the families. Part of what we're wanting these deputies in these key programs to do is to do home visits."
According to Higgins, the community needs to understand that while writing citations and arresting individuals is part of law enforcement, it should not be the focus.
"We're going to always do those things," Higgins said. "As a part of your job, you make arrests. You write tickets, but that can't be the focus. For us, [the program] helps us to be reminded of who our community is."
Grant funding passed unanimously through the Pulaski County Quorum Court Agenda Committee meeting on Tuesday, getting passed along to the full Quorum Court meeting July 27.
Sheriff's Maj. Simon Haynes spoke at the meeting, comparing the program to a Boy Scouts with a law enforcement tint.
"Our hopes are to revive the Junior Deputy program," Haynes said. "So we're getting involved with the folks over at the ballpark and getting them back involved with law enforcement."
The program has no effect on the county general fund and will be fully grant funded.
"I understand the county has limited resources, and it's important for us to find a grant to support this program," Higgins said. "We're blessed to get this grant."
The grant will give the sheriff's office four new positions, including a Junior Deputy program director, an administrative assistant and two part-time cadets.
Higgins said the cadet positions are important to him because of his experience as a cadet with Little Rock police.
"Because of the grant, it allows us to begin another aspect of this which is the cadet program, to actually hire youth to come work at the sheriff's department," Higgins said. "We're excited to introduce people into law enforcement from having them work here. That's not something that's new to me."
According to Higgins, the department will wait until the program is funded to being searching for individuals to fill those positions.