As of Monday, there have been 42% more homicides in Little Rock this year compared with the same period in 2021, part of a 35% increase in violent crime overall, a Little Rock Police official said during a Wednesday news conference with the mayor and other city officials.
Assistant Chief Wayne Bewley, who commands the Little Rock Police Department's Investigative Bureau, offered the statistics Wednesday morning at City Hall as part of Mayor Frank Scott Jr.'s plan to offer weekly updates on violent crime in the city.
As of Feb. 21, 2022, police had investigated 10 homicides, compared with seven in the same period last year, Bewley said.
On Feb. 1, Scott and the city's Board of Directors issued a resolution declaring violent crime a public health emergency in the city. This move suspended overtime limits for police for 30 days and directed them to step up patrols in specific neighborhoods with high levels of reported crime.
Bewley said he was thankful that no homicides have been reported since Feb. 11, before last week's news conference on violent crime.
Of the 10 homicides reported in 2022, Bewley said, "we've made arrests in six, which puts us at a clearance rate of 60%."
Bewley said the national average clearance rate was 64%.
A suspect in the Jan. 3 homicide death of Dmahre Dillard had been identified, Bewley said, and they have been working with a prosecutor to determine whether they would file charges against that suspect.
Police questioned but released a man without charges during the investigation, according to an incident report.
That leaves three homicides this year unsolved, Bewley said. He asked for anyone with information in the Jan. 8 killing of Jadon Shackelford, the Jan. 28 killing of Bradford Bankston or the Feb. 4 killing of Lawrence Parker to report that to police.
As part of the city's effort to prevent violent crime, Scott and Little Rock Police Chief Keith Humphrey have pointed to loitering as an indicator of high-crime areas, and have suggested that targeting it can help prevent disputes that lead to bloodshed.
Last week, Humphrey showed heat map graphics that compared the frequency of loitering reports with reports of violent crime in the city over the last six months. He said that areas with a high occurrence of loitering had a lot of overlap with areas where violent crime was happening.
"When you find loitering, you may find some other issues," Scott said Wednesday, noting that some businesses have been shut down for criminal activity discovered in investigations into loitering, although he did not go into specifics.
Scott said that city officials, along with police and fire department personnel conducted a "sweep" at Bradford Estates, at 6310 Colonel Glenn Road, enforcing loitering laws and finding violations.
Officials discovered more than 100 violations in the Feb. 16 operation, said Jamie Collins, director of Planning and Development for the city, and are working with the property owner to address them.
The sweep happened the day after Little Rock Police arrested Twilla Pace, 57, at Bradford Estates. She is charged with three felonies after police say she shot another woman in one of the apartments, injuring her. Scott and Collins did not mention the shooting in the news conference.
In addition to the sweep at the apartment complex, city officials have identified 10 businesses in the city as locations of the majority of loitering reports, Little Rock Fire Chief Delphone Hubbard said. City officials went to the businesses and informed the owners of the expectations to reduce loitering.
"It was a success in that all of the business owners were receptive," Hubbard said.
Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. speaks Wednesday about efforts the city is making to address crime problems. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staci Vandagriff)