Little Rock police on overtime patrol at homeless site

Business complaints spark daily visits

Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner on the scene of a double shooting at 27th St. and Washington St. Sunday after two 16-year-olds were shot while driving a stolen car.
Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner on the scene of a double shooting at 27th St. and Washington St. Sunday after two 16-year-olds were shot while driving a stolen car.

The Little Rock Police Department has enlisted a detail of overtime officers to crack down on homeless people over complaints that they are committing crimes downtown.

On Friday, Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner instructed officers to make daily visits to the 1100 block of West Markham Street.

In an internal email obtained under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, the chief said officers should "cite when possible until this mess is cleaned up. If they have no legal reason to be there, run them off."

Buckner said the city block that includes From His Throne Ministries and the Salvation Army Central Arkansas Area Command, both of which provide services to homeless people, has received "countless" complaints from nearby businesses. Complaints include fighting, drug trafficking, vandalism, public nudity and prostitution.

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On Tuesday, Buckner said the overtime detail will also include The Bernice Garden, at 1401 S. Main St., and the area around East Seventh and South Scott streets, both of which have been at the center of similar complaints, he said.

Intradepartment emails also indicated that the department's vice unit would check the Markham Street area for people drinking in public or engaging in prostitution.

The increased police presence comes at a time when the 590-officer department is short nearly 80 officers and the city is experiencing a surge in violent crimes. By Tuesday evening, the city's 2017 homicide total had climbed to 43, up from 20 at the same point last year.

Early this year as violence began to rise in the city, the Police Department created two Violent Crime Apprehension Teams. Team A works overnight to arrest violent criminals, said department spokesman officer Steve Moore. Team B works during the day and responds to reports of violent crimes, property crimes and any crimes committed in officers' presence, Buckner said.

Buckner initially assigned the department's Violent Crime Apprehension Team B to the downtown detail, which includes the 1100 block of West Markham Street. A short time later, responsibility for that area was transferred to the overtime group, he said.

The push to deter crime in the homeless community coincides with a city-supported effort to move the serving of volunteer-prepared meals to homeless people nearly 4 miles away from downtown. It's a move that many volunteer groups have been hesitant to support.

Jordan Johnson, chairman of the volunteer committee overseeing the move, expressed frustration over the police "crackdown."

"It is hard to get a clear answer from the city on who ordered the crackdown," Johnson said. "Understandably, many members of the volunteer committee have legitimate questions and concerns regarding the timing of such action."

Before work began on replacing the Broadway bridge between Little Rock and North Little Rock, volunteer groups fed homeless people under that bridge. The bridge construction forced them to move several months ago, and religious groups and volunteers now serve meals four nights a week at From His Throne Ministries, which was converted from an auto-glass shop into a church almost two years ago.

Last weekend, advocates for the homeless expressed frustration with the city and the Police Department after police patrols increased and a surveillance camera was installed across the street from From His Throne Ministries.

Sandra Wilson, founder of Reach Out -- a nonprofit that aids the homeless -- questioned the focus by Little Rock police in a Facebook post Monday. Wilson noted that Allen Sims, the city's 40th homicide victim of 2017, was homeless.

"People who are homeless are not murdering; they are being murdered," Wilson said. "People who are homeless are not the people or gangs shooting all over our city. Little Rock Police, please look at where resources should be instead of harassing homeless."

Buckner said most homeless people don't commit crimes.

"As it is with most crimes, we have a few problem individuals causing issues for the area," he said.

Police have responded to the 1100 block of West Markham Street 243 times this year, according to a Police Department memo dated Monday. However, more than half of those complaints -- 157 -- were found to be false, unsubstantiated or too minor to require a written police report.

Emails show that a nearby business began filing complaints about the homeless as far back as February.

Michelle Hastings, president of Trivia Marketing at 1100 W. Markham St., emailed Mayor Mark Stodola on Feb. 6 with the subject line "Championship MMA fighting match at 1101 W. Markham St.," reporting graffiti, two homeless men fighting and homeless people taking magazines from stands and lighting them on fire against Trivia's building.

"Can you please respond to this email and tell me what your office is doing to deal with these issues?" Hastings wrote. "Nothing is getting better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Stodola responded, sympathizing with Hastings and encouraging her to contact police when she sees wrongdoing.

Hastings again complained about graffiti in April.

Since her first complaint, the department has ordered several "directed patrols," which require patrol officers to make contact with people in a particular area and document their findings.

In a lengthy July 21 email -- titled "Little Rock: 'Crime wins....business loses'" and sent to City Manager Bruce Moore, Stodola and Buckner -- Hastings requested that a camera be placed near her business. She also provided a detailed list of problems she'd observed and reported over the previous week.

She accused patrol officers of being too friendly with people on the block.

"They need to arrive, handle business authoritatively and leave so the businesses in the area can get back to generating tax dollars," she wrote.

Hasting's emails -- which included attached photographs, including one of a man walking down a sidewalk with no clothes on -- were the only complaints included in the Police Department memo. However, Buckner said Tuesday that Doe's Eat Place, some restaurant customers and a nearby law firm have also complained.

In a July 26 email, Stodola called for a meeting of City Hall and Police Department officials "to discuss how we can put a stop to this conduct."

Stodola said Tuesday that the idea for the camera came from that meeting, when a Police Department official brought up the topic of portable cameras used throughout the city. Stodola said he agreed that it was a "reasonable response to the issue," but he didn't know then when it was to be implemented.

City officials said such cameras are sometimes used to verify complaints.

"You cannot have a police officer there every single time something happens," Stodola said, referring to the large number of complaints.

The topic of directed patrols -- which by nature are not complaint-driven -- did not come up in the meeting, Stodola said.

Installing the camera was a "collective decision" that came from the meeting, Moore said in an interview Tuesday. He said the camera provides a view of the entire block -- not solely on From His Throne Ministries -- and that the city frequently uses cameras as a way to verify complaints.

Hastings again complained Aug. 9. The Police Department installed the camera the next morning, a day before Buckner's directive to make From His Throne Ministries a daily patrol location.

The use of overtime officers is not limited to From His Throne Ministries, but covers three targeted locations, Moore said when asked if it was a wise use of resources for a short-handed department. It's possible more locations will be added to the list, he said.

"We have made over 200 calls for service to this location," Buckner said Tuesday of the West Markham Street site. "I think it's safe to say it is a problem location."

Metro on 08/16/2017

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