LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — In his weekly public safety meeting Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr., alongside Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington, announced a collaborative effort to combat crime in both cities.
The collaboration is a joint effort between the Little Rock Police Department and the Pine Bluff Police Departments.
This comes as city officials become more aggressive in their efforts to curb violent crime.
Mayor Scott said over the past few weeks, they have emphasized their efforts to share information with Pine Bluff, as Little Rock authorities have monitored crime in both of the two cities.
"Today's announcement is a focus on an intelligence and surveillance effort that's going on in two cities that have had connected gun crimes," said Mayor Scott.
It's been two months since Mayor Scott declared a state of emergency for Little Rock due to rising cases of violent crime in the city.
Fast forward to now, and Mayor Scott said that they're beginning to see a downward trend.
Despite that downward trend, both cities have seen their fair share of violent crime in 2022.
So far, there have been a total of 19 homicides in Little Rock, while there have been 9 in Pine Bluff.
"The focus of this initiative is to work toward a more fluid sharing of information in real time. Within the past two years, we have noticed a startling connection between violent gun crimes in the city of Pine Bluff and the city of Little Rock," said Capt. Denise Richardson with the Pine Bluff Police Department.
It's a statement that's being felt in Little Rock too as LRPD Police Chief Keith Humphrey echoed Richardson's words and shared that violent crime sometimes impacts people in both cities at the same time.
He said homicide cases such as the shooting death of 20-year old Bradford Bankston are the ones that bridge the two cities together.
Bankston, a resident of Pine Bluff, was shot and killed in Little Rock on University Ave. back in January.
"We determined that Mr. Bankston lived in the city of Pine Bluff. I immediately contacted Chief Franklin, Chief Richardson, they in turn were able to get their detectives, their staff involved, and it was an ongoing dialogue," said Humphrey.
He also said city officials are focused on multiple types of street crime, not just gun crime.
The department said their street crime unit recognizes those who are caravanning and engaging in illegal street racing and that they're doing an all-out effort to ensure the department is addressing the issues.
Mayor Washington said crime is not unique to either of the two communities and that building a stronger, more coordinated partnership with Little Rock is crucial to the efforts to curb crime.
"We're also taking illegal weapons and drugs off the street very aggressively. This is helping to alleviate the criminal activity," said Washington.
During the meeting, Mayor Scott announced that they will begin conducting the Public Safety Meeting monthly, rather than weekly.