Little Rock's interim police chief will step down from the role at the end of the week, according to an announcement on Wednesday, making him the second temporary head of the city's Police Department to give up the post since Chief Keith Humphrey retired in May.
Wayne Bewley, who will retire at the end of the year after 36 years with the department, has accepted another job and will step down as interim chief Saturday, Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said in a statement.
Assistant Chief Heath Helton will take over as interim chief while the search for a permanent replacement for Humphrey continues, Scott said.
Scott said he plans to name a new chief of police in the next 30 to 60 days.
"This has truly been the dream job of my life and has provided me the opportunity to experience so many things while working with some of the best police officers anywhere in this country," Bewley, who joined the department as a police cadet at age 19, said in the statement released by Scott. "I am forever grateful to the City of Little Rock."
No information was given about the job Bewley accepted, in keeping with other resignation announcements from Little Rock police leaders.
Scott commended Bewley's leadership ability and credited him with giving the department needed stability in the past few months since Humphrey's departure.
Bewley oversaw the department's move into a new headquarters building and worked with Helton and others to implement the agency's Real-Time Crime Center.
"He has advanced LRPD in a positive direction, and I personally appreciate his counsel and his candor during my time as Mayor," Scott said.
This is the second time Bewley has served as the interim head of the department during a search for a new chief of police. He led the department after Chief Kenton Buckner left in 2018 until Humphrey was appointed in 2019. He later took the reins from then-Assistant Chief Crystal Young-Haskins, who was appointed interim chief after Humphrey retired May 20 but resigned herself in June.
Although Helton will be taking charge, Bewley said his last day on the force won't officially come until Dec. 30.
"I would like to share my thanks to all the men and women of the Little Rock Police Department and promise they will forever remain in my prayers," Bewley said.
Bewley, as well as Humphrey and Haskins before him, has led the department through a year of increased homicides that have put scrutiny on Scott and the Police Department's handling of crime.
On Nov. 10, Little Rock police investigated the city's 75th homicide of the year. That rivals the city's all-time record for homicides, which was 76 in 1993.
Bewley said earlier this year that six of the 1993 homicides were later ruled to be justified, with no criminal charges filed.
So far this year, one homicide has been ruled justified and seven more are being reviewed by prosecutors to see if criminal charges are appropriate, police spokesman Mark Edwards has said.
When Scott began organizing weekly news conferences in February to talk about steps taken to address violent crime in the city, Bewley, as head of the department's Investigative Division, frequently gave updates on homicides the department was investigating, calling attention to unsolved cases from earlier in the year.
Word of Bewley's retirement came the day after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that a Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request, covering a period of September through November, turned up no city records pertaining to finalists or interviewees for the chief of police position.
Scott had previously said he would appoint a new chief of police before election day in November. Although Scott won a second term, he has yet to name a replacement for Humphrey or any finalists.
Helton is one of the applicants for the spot. Bewley has repeatedly declined to apply to be the city's chief of police. In 2018, after Buckner resigned, he declined to apply, and he again said he wasn't interested when Humphrey left the department.