HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — It has been a testing spring and summer for Hot Springs, with a string of unrelated homicides dating back to Mother's Day, capped by a police-shooting of a man with a gun in the middle of busy Bathhouse Row.
"It's been very stressful, especially when you accumulate everything downtown," said Cpl. Joey Williams, the spokesperson for the Hot Springs Police Dept. "To see this kind of violence and this many homicides, it disturbs us just like anybody else."
And so out of a round-table discussion about the violence, emerged an appeal for cooler heads is going online with the city and police department launching the website Cool Down Hot Springs.
"We're talking domestic and interpersonal relationships, where a lot of times, law enforcement doesn't have control over what those dynamics are," Cpl. Williams said, referring to one facet of the homicides that cropped up most these past months.
"The website is where you can go and it has [sections] on how to de-escalate, help, and communicate," he said.
The police are partnering with Ouachita Behavioral Health and Wellness Center.
The violence this summer highlighted the limitations that can come, trying to treat people in crisis. The new website includes phone numbers for counselors to try and get help to those people before a crisis develops.
"This is not just the city of Hot Springs or the Hot Springs Police Department," Williams said. "It's all the different partners who came to that table, who came to that meeting, and are helping us spread the word."
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Without a specific crime problem to point to, like gang violence, city leaders have been at a loss to explain how to turn the tide. They heard the criticism and hope the site can be a step in the right direction, if not a solution.
"This is just not lip service where we're telling people you need to do something," Williams said. "We're actively involved trying to provide the tools to our community to help heal it and move forward."