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Governor Asa Hutchinson works to reduce crime in Arkansas

Over the past several months, Governor Hutchinson has been working to address the rising crime in Little Rock, and he gave an update on those efforts on Monday.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Over the past few months, Governor Hutchinson has been actively working to address the rising crime. In a  presser held on Monday afternoon, he shared some progress from the capitol. 

Crimes of gun violence have impacted dozens of families for years, and it seems like recently they have been on the rise. 

Ida Hooks is no stranger to the impact that those crimes can hold on someone.

"I've lost two relatives to violence... I had an 18-year-old, that was shot...but then I had a granddaughter that was shot back last year at the age of 34," Hooks said.

Amid the recent crimes, Governor Hutchinson weighed in on the state's crime reduction efforts.

"I want to go through some of the things that we've done as a state to address violent crime in Arkansas," Hutchinson said.

In the last year, Hutchinson has designated $75 million for prison expansion, $1 million to support prosecutor and public defender offices, and recently, to strengthen parole supervision.

Hutchinson also announced that he will ask the general assembly for an additional $9 million dollars to support state prosecutors and public defenders.

"There's been a good result of this effort. Not perfect, but it is increasing the supervision of those that are on parole,' Hutchinson said as he commented on the supervision program.

The program's results showed that more arrests and firearms had been confiscated since the officer expansion in April.

Reverend Benny Johnson with 'Arkansas Stop the Violence' said that that's still not enough.

"We're not blaming the governor, but we had to come up with some solutions, dealing with the ones who have lost loved ones. That's where you start," he said.

According to Little Rock police, homicides in the city have been up 56% in the last 5 years. Arkansas State Police added that they're doing what they can, to try and stop the crime.

Bill Bryant, Director of Arkansas State Police said, "We want the place to be safe a little rocky we work together as a team with the Little Rock Police Department, State Police, Pulaski County to combat this violence issue."

As relatives of those lost to gun violence continue to search for support they requested for the governance to, "Please, try to stop the violence."

   

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