CONWAY, Ark. — After dealing with some staffing shortages like many police departments across the state, Conway is now almost fully staffed.
Now, because of that, the department was able to create a new unit and bring back an old one.
"We're grateful that the department is almost fully staffed. And that, you know, we are successfully able to transition our officers into these kinds of new positions," Conway Police Public Information Officer, Lacey Kanipe said.
After taking a nearly two-year break, the Conway Police Department's Crime Suppression Unit is back in action. It got back up and running in May.
Kanipe said the four officers in that unit focus on hotspots where specific crimes are happening.
"Over the last several months, they have been working on incidents related to illegal narcotics activity, vehicle break-ins, and commercial thefts," Kanipe added.
The CSU officers responded to 813 calls for service since May, according to the Emergency Operations Director.
Now the department has noticed a difference in crime numbers.
"From January to September of 2023, both our violent crime and our property crime rates are down compared to this time last year," Kanipe described. "For our violent crime, we are actually down 1% compared to this time last year from January to September. And then for our property crime, we were actually down 10% For that same timeframe."
She said raising officer pay has a lot to do with it. Since there are more officers, the Community Crisis Response team was able to start last year and has been helping those experiencing a mental health crisis.
"That actually allows our patrol division to focus on various calls for service, focus on their designated areas, which in turn, you know, contributes to the overall reduction of crime in Conway," she added.
She hopes as more positions become filled, the department can create even more opportunities for officers.
The entry-level salary range for the Conway Police Department got bumped up last year from $42,293- $56,316 to $48,000-$69,000.
