HOT SPRINGS — Numerous rankings place Hot Springs among the most dangerous cities in the state and country, but Police Chief Chris Chapmond said data his department collects tell another story.
“We would make these lists on an annual basis for being the worst city in America for property crimes or for homicides by different crime publications,” Chapmond said at the safe neighborhoods meeting District 4 City Director-elect Dudley Webb held last week at First Lutheran Church.
“We know that we are not the most dangerous city in America,” he said.
“We’ve lived here our entire lives. There’s very few places in the world I’d prefer to live other than Hot Springs.” He said he and his command staff found that some crimes were being overreported.
“In 2020, we know there’s a reporting problem,” he said. “We did a deep dive into the analytics. Burglary, breaking and entering and assaults were overreported and should be placed in other categories. There was still an event, but it wasn’t truly the breaking and entering. It was a lesser crime that we were reporting as a higher crime.” Based on reports officers entered into the department’s records management system, violent crime fell 21% through October compared with the first 10 months of 2020. Property crime fell 23%, shots fired calls 26% and homicides 67%. Arson was the only crime classified as a major offense that has risen relative to 2020.
“Ask Little Rock if they’d like to see that,” Chapmond said of the city’s homicide numbers. “These decreases are pretty impressive when you’re seeing increases across the country.” Attendees noted how crime became a focus during last month’s election for four Hot Springs Board of Directors seats, telling Chapmond they thought some of the candidates unfairly criticized the police department.