FAYETTEVILLE -- The city needs more officers to address an increase in violent crime, according to Police Chief Mike Reynolds.
The City Council on Tuesday approved applying for a Community Oriented Policing Services hiring program grant through the U.S. Department of Justice, which would pay a portion of the salaries for five officers forming a violent crime response unit.
The group of one sergeant and four officers would try to develop relationships with underserved communities in the city that experience higher rates of violent and gun crime, according to a council memo.
The council approved the request after reading it on its consent agenda, meaning it passed without discussion.
If awarded, the grant would provide $625,000 total toward the officers' salaries for three years, while the city would match with $341,555 and an additional $292,054 total in project expenses. The city would be required to cover the cost to keep all five officers employed for at least one more year afterward.
Reynolds said the idea is to take a more proactive approach to violent crime. The department's approach is more reactive because patrol officers are the ones responding to calls of gun violence and other violent crime, he said.
Calls keep coming in as patrol officers try to respond to violent crime incidents, splitting their attention and time, Reynolds said.
"I just envision this as being something that's more of a dedicated, directed approach to the increase of gun violence and violent crime that we've experienced along with the rest of the United States," he said.
Tracking numbers
Murders nationally have spiked nearly 40% since 2019. Violent crimes, including shootings and other assaults, have increased overall, according to an April 17 article from the New York Times. The national murder rate was five per 100,000 people in 2019, compared to 6.9 per 100,000 last year, the article says.
Closer to home, there have been 19 homicides in the city since 2019, according to the Police Department's statistics. Five happened in 2019, with seven in 2020 and five in 2021. The seven homicides in 2020 tied for most ever in a year in the city, Reynolds said. There were 19 homicides total in the city from 2012 to 2018.
As far as gun violence, there were a dozen shootings in the city in which someone was injured or killed in 2019, with 10 people injured and two shooting deaths, according to Reynolds. The city had one of its most violent years ever in 2020 with 18 such shootings, including 11 injured and seven killed. Last year, 13 people were shot with 11 injured and two killed, he said.
So far this year six people have been shot, with five injured and one killed, Reynolds said.
Reynolds described a "surge" in violent crime in general. Violent crime overall rose from 2019 to last year, according to the Police Department's statistics. The department recorded 432 instances of homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault in 2019. The number was 545 in 2020, and 555 last year.
The city averaged 414 instances of violent crime per year from 2012 to 2018. The average was 511 per year from 2019 to 2021.
The city had 1.42 police officers per 1,000 residents in 2019, according to data from the FBI. Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville and Fort Smith combined had an average of 1.67 officers per 1,000 residents, the data say.
The Fayetteville department has 124 police officers employed or in the process of being employed out of a possible 137 positions. The number of officers per 1,000 residents has increased slightly to 1.49, but the city still lags behind other cities in the region, Reynolds said.
"I simply don't have the capacity to sustain a dedicated unit to specifically target violent crime and gun violence without your support and this grant," Reynolds told the City Council during its agenda-setting session May 31.
Reynolds anticipated receiving word from the federal government about whether the city will be awarded the grant within 60 to 90 days.
Addressing the issue
Other departments handle violent crime in different ways.
Springdale police have a crime suppression unit made up of patrol officers who investigate a variety of quality of life issues, said Lt. Jeff Taylor, spokesman. The unit works with the department's Criminal Investigation Division as well as patrol and school resource officers, in addition to local, state and federal task forces, he said.
"They help with violent crimes, but also investigate graffiti issues, speeding, drugs or anything else that the chief or patrol commander sees as a rising issue," Taylor said.
The Rogers Police Department in the past has had a crime suppression unit that functioned similarly to what Fayetteville is proposing with its violent crime response unit, said Officer Keith Foster, spokesman. The unit in Rogers was an extra team of officers who patrolled high-crime areas to target the highest disruptions to public safety, he said.
"It is not a continuous unit, but it is a tool that we can use when we feel like we are having issues or increasing problems," Foster said.
Bentonville's Police Department does not have a violent crime unit because the city has a relatively low rate of violent crime, said spokesman Cpl. Adam McInnis. The department's patrol division initially handles calls of violent crime and hands the cases over to the criminal investigation division, he said.
"Most of the cases we do see involve a victim who knows the offender, and many of these cases result in timely arrests, whether by our patrol division or by the criminal investigation division," McInnis said.
The Fort Smith Police Department regularly reviews crime statistics throughout town to form plans to address issues, said spokesman Aric Mitchell. Strategies often include more than just an increase in officer presence in a neighborhood by using the department's crisis intervention and community relations teams when possible, he said.
"We are able to use this process not only to increase our police presence in vulnerable areas, but also to get to know those communities better," Mitchell said. "When a pattern of violent crime emerges, we meet with community leaders and stakeholders to identify and address specific threats to the peace and tranquility of their areas before situations have the chance to escalate."
Investment priorities
The formation of a violent crime response unit within Fayetteville's Police Department means the city would siphon money toward a police response rather than other potentially more effective community solutions, said Sarah Moore with the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition, a local nonprofit advocacy group. The grant would only pay a portion of the officers' salaries for a certain number of years, she said.
"There have been very real conversations led by data and research showing that we aren't making the appropriate investments in anti-poverty work and affordable housing, recovery and mental health resources," Moore said.
Moore commended the department for hiring full-time social workers but said more investment is needed in crisis response teams that are not police-related. Those groups could provide services and resources to help people avoid situations that lead to violent crime in the first place, Moore said. Additionally, programs such as gun buy-back events could get large numbers of guns off the street at a time, she said.
Moore said she's heard a lot of talk from city government about investing in community solutions that would lead to a reduction in issues such as violent crime but has yet to see the budget reflect that priority.
"You have so many other segments of our community that have gotten no investment for so long," she said.
Reynolds said he has reason to believe the unit's efforts would yield results. In January 2021, he put together a similar team in response to the surge in violent crime in 2020. The unit seized 20 guns, six of which were stolen, and made 13 gun-related arrests over six to eight weeks, he said.
In one incident, the officers seized a high-powered rifle from the trunk of a car belonging to someone who had threatened violence at an apartment complex on the southeast part of town, Reynolds said.
Staffing issues caused Reynolds to reassign the unit back to patrol, he said.
Having the violent crime response unit would enable officers to better develop relationships within neighborhoods and deploy officers in areas that data show experience the most violence, Reynolds said.
"Before a lot of violent crime happens, especially gun violence, somebody typically knows ahead of time that there's a gun battle getting ready to happen," he said. "If we can develop those relationships and gather that intel on the front end, maybe we can prevent shootings from happening and save lives."
Fayetteville violent crime statistics
2019
Homicide — 5
Rape — 67
Robbery — 56
Aggravated assault — 304
Total violent crime — 432
2020
Homicide — 7
Rape — 86
Robbery — 60
Aggravated assault — 392
Total violent crime — 545
2021
Homicide — 5
Rape — 87
Robbery — 70
Aggravated assault — 393
Total violent crime — 555
Source: Fayetteville Police Department