SPRINGDALE -- Police postponed a meeting with residents who live near the sites of two gang-related homicides after the meeting was announced publicly, when police intended for it to involve only residents and officers, officials said.
The meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at Jones Elementary School, was for police and residents to discuss establishing a neighborhood watch group, Police Chief Kathy O'Kelley said. Mayor Doug Sprouse spoke about the meeting at Tuesday's City Council meeting, telling aldermen he planned to leave a committee meeting early Monday to attend the meeting at Jones.
WEB WATCH
To watch the altered video of the Springdale City Council meeting, go to www.springdalear.gov, click on the “Online Videos” tab at the top of the page, click on “City Council Videos” and click on the video labeled “City Council April 14, 2015.”
"We want to help neighborhoods take back their neighborhoods," he said at the City Council meeting.
Sprouse said before the meeting being postponed Wednesday the meeting wouldn't be open to the public. He also said he feared residents wouldn't attend the meeting if it was open.
Residents in the neighborhood are already scared because of the recent gang violence, said Lt. Derek Hudson, public information officer with the Springdale Police Department. The department tries not to publicize these types of meetings.
"We don't want to scare people off," he said.
This comes after a gang-related shooting Saturday at 609 Savage St. that killed Jimmy Rodriguez, 20, and led to the arrest of a 13-year-old boy; Jose Delatorre, 18; Rodolfo Martinez, 18; and Giovanni Vasquez-Sanchez, 17. The homicide occurred a half-mile from Jones Elementary.
The Savage Street homicide was the third gang-related shooting in Springdale in a month and the second homicide.
Two people were injured and Fabian Rodriguez, 18, was fatally shot at 32 Applegate Drive on March 13. Hector Saul Ramos, 17, was arrested in connection with the March 13 shooting. That residence was less than one-third of a mile from Jones Elementary School.
A drive-by shooting overnight March 14 on Pierce Avenue resulted in the arrests of a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old. No one was injured.
O'Kelley said during Tuesday' night's City Council meeting officers would be at the meeting Monday to assist residents in setting up a neighborhood watch group. Her statements were deleted from a video recording of the City Council meeting posted on the city's website. In addition, Sprouse's statements about the meeting were removed.
Sprouse said Wednesday it was his decision to delete parts of video, but both his statements and O'Kelley's would remain in the written meeting minutes. He said he viewed the editing of the video as a "clarification."
"No one's going to know I made that announcement unless they were there," he said.
However, the meeting at Jones Elementary was also referred to at the Springdale School Board meeting Tuesday evening. A video of the meeting is posted on the Springdale Public Schools' YouTube channel.
Sgt. Jeff Taylor, who supervises the school resource officers in the city, mentioned the meeting planned Monday while speaking in front of School Board members and Springdale School District officials. He said the meeting is "bringing in the community, trying to just rally up the troops to take back the community."
Police generally like to announce an organizational meeting has taken place after it happens, Sprouse said.
At initial meetings to set up neighborhood watch groups, police usually make a presentation explaining what the groups are and how they can help keep a neighborhood safe, Hudson said. He said prior to the meeting being postponed police would answer residents' questions during the meeting.
"It's meant to establish good relationships with neighborhoods and with police," he said.
There are about 12 neighborhood watch groups throughout the city, Hudson said. The activity of the groups varies, but they are all managed by residents.
Police have also attended a couple of neighborhood watch meetings at the Springdale Housing Authority offices on Applegate Drive over the past several weeks, Hudson said. Thirty to 40 people attended each meeting.
The authority offices are next door to where the shooting occurred at 32 Applegate Drive and about one-third of mile from the shooting on Savage Street.
Officers teach residents in neighborhood watch groups about crime prevention, having contact lists for neighbors, being observant and reporting suspicious activity to the police, Hudson said.
"It's just extra eyes and ears," he said.
NW News on 04/16/2015