New policing cited in drop of PB crimes

PINE BLUFF - New policing methods are likely behind Pine Bluff’s recent downturn in crime, the city’s police chief said.

Reported crimes were down from 555 in January 2013 to 413 at the end of January this year, according to Police Department statistics.

There was just one homicide in January, compared with two in January 2013. Aggravated assaults decreased from 39 in January 2013 to 20 last month, statistics showed.

Robberies fell to nine from 18 a year ago.

Rape and attempted rape were the only violent crimes that saw an increase from a year ago.

Statistics showed an increase of two rapes and attempted rapes from January 2013, from three to five.

Pine Bluff Police Chief Jeff Hubanks said newly implemented anti-crime programs, such as the Violent Crimes Task Force initiative, are the main reasons for the decrease.

Hubanks has led the force since January 2013, when newly elected Mayor Debe Hollingsworth fired Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones on Hollingsworth’s first day in office.

The violent-crimes initiative offers select offenders a chance to participate in programs to help them turn their lives away from crime. Partners in the endeavor include the Pine Bluff Police Department, the Jefferson County sheriff’s office, the Arkansas Department of Community Correction, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the Jefferson County prosecuting attorney’s office, Crime Stoppers and the White Hall and Redfield police departments.

The effort aims to show those who have felony records that there is a better life on the right side of the law and to lead them away from crime, Hubanks said. While in the program, felons receive drug and alcohol treatment, tutoring and workforce training.

Hubanks said the task force is modeled after a similar program in High Point, N.C., a city roughly double the size of Pine Bluff that has had similar crime problems over the past decade. Officials there report that crime is down by as much as 50 percent since the program was implemented.

At a recent task force meeting, Hubanks told four of the nine men now enrolled in the program that he and the other agencies involved are available “to help you make better choices in the future.”

“This is a message of redemption. We want to help you. We want you to succeed and do well, because if you fail, the city fails,” he said.

Those participating in the program are chosen, in part, because they are at high risk of re-offending, Hubanks said.

Link Tinsdale, who has been involved with several anti-crime groups in Pine Bluff over the past decade, said the streets “have a little different feel to them right now.”

Tinsdale, 55, has talked to a felon involved in the Violent Crimes Task Force program and said the man has exhibited a willingness to stop breaking the law.

“I am out here on the streets. I see things, I talk to people, I know what’s going on,” Tinsdale said as he stood on the lawn of his Ohio Street home.

“You know, a lot of these young men don’t know how to change, and they don’t think anyone cares if they change.

This is a great program, because it shows these young men that the police are not just out to get them.”