PINE BLUFF — Violent felons who are convicted of gun crimes in Jefferson County are subject to receive more time in prison under an agreement among local law enforcement officials, Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Hunter, and Cody Hiland, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Under the auspices of Project Safe Neighborhoods, an initiative begun under President George W. Bush and reinstated under President Donald Trump, law enforcement officials in crime-plagued areas can partner with federal authorities to access additional tools and resources to target gun crimes and violent felons.
“When Attorney General Jeff Sessions came in, he made a point of revitalizing the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, and so we’ve jumped on that,” Hi-land said. “We really hit the gas on it last January [2018], and we’ve been riding it pretty hard ever since.”
Hiland is taking advantage of the Special Assistant United States Attorney certification for state prosecutors to leverage resources at the state and federal levels by allowing them to continue to work in local offices.
The initiative allows local prosecutors to assign a deputy for certification as a special assistant U.S. prosecuting attorney, who continues working in the local office but also tries cases at the federal level once the cases are evaluated and cleared for federal prosecution.
Hiland said he will meet with county officials today to put the finishing touches on the agreement. Prosecutors will then begin the process of bringing federal charges for those arrested in gun crimes.
“We’ll be putting up billboards in the next few weeks to tell people that gun crime equals fed time,” Hiland said. “Realistically, if you are arrested today as a felon in possession of a firearm in Pine Bluff, there’s a good chance your case will go federal.”
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Simber Tadlock was selected from Hunter’s office and has been working with Hiland’s office on various cases around the state.
Now Tadlock will begin concentrating on gun cases originating in Jefferson County, Hiland said.
In particular, prosecutors target felons in possession of firearms and direct those cases toward federal court to take advantage of more stringent sentencing requirements at the federal level.
Federal inmates must serve a minimum of 85 percent of their sentences, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
“In federal court they don’t have the same parole rights as in state court,” Hunter said. “If you’re convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm in state court and you get five years in prison, you’ll be out in 10 months to two years. But if you’re convicted in federal court and you’re sentenced to five years, you’ll do almost that whole five years.”
Hiland began working on gun-possession cases in early 2018 in Pulaski County, working with Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley, then expanded to cases in West Memphis, Jonesboro, Helena-West Helena and, now, Pine Bluff.
Pine Bluff Police Chief Kelvin Sergeant said he welcomes the help. The city has struggled for years with violent crime. Since the beginning of this year, 11 homicides have been committed within city limits.
Last year, Sergeant organized a special unit within his department in an effort to address violent crime involving known felons. The Violent Crimes Unit uses saturation patrols, surveillance and high-profile policing tactics to try to interrupt violent crimes.
Sergeant said channeling as many of these cases as possible into the federal court system will keep violent offenders behind bars.
“Right now, we have people go to prison, get right back out on parole, and continue to create the same problems as before,” he said.
Hunter said that when a particular case is identified for potential federal prosecution, an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigates. If approved, the case is sent to a federal grand jury for possible indictment and prosecution.
“The hope is to lock up some bad guys for as long as we can lock them up,” Hunter said.
Jegley, Pulaski County’s prosecuting attorney, gave Hiland’s office high marks for its work.
“I know the prospect of serious federal time versus not-so-serious state time has an effect on how some individuals decide to present themselves on the streets,” Jegley said. “I’ve had cops tell me when they roll up on known felons that, often after doing a safety search and f inding nothing, if they comment on the lack of weapons, they’re told, ‘I don’t want to do no federal time.’”
The initiative has drawn criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Kanya Bennett, senior legislative counsel at the group’s Washington, D.C., office, said in a blog post last year that the Department of Justice’s focus under Sessions was on mass incarceration and targeting minority groups with aggressive police tactics.
Buck Fikes, managing public defender with the Jefferson County public defender’s office, said Project Safe Neighborhoods is an effective tool to keep violent felons behind bars for longer periods of time, but he said it also can be used in other ways.
“The fear I’ve always had is that it can be used, shall we say, as a hammer to beat someone into submission, to become an informant, which can put an individual in great danger,” Fikes said. “Or if an individual is charged and found not guilty, to charge him next time in federal court, a ‘gotcha moment’ for law enforcement.
“I’m not saying everyone does it, or that it’s done every time, but it can be used that way.”