Little Rock mayoral candidate Greg Henderson took a swipe at opponent Steve Landers Sr. at a mayoral forum Wednesday when he argued that deploying "attack dogs" or drones, as Landers has suggested, would be counterproductive.
Henderson said that "policing through fear" would kill recent momentum on improving the relationship between police and the community.
With regard to bringing in dogs and drones, Henderson said, "That's not community policing and that's not progressive policing."
His remarks came at a forum at the Southwest Community Center that was attended by three of the four candidates running for Little Rock mayor.
Mayor Frank Scott Jr. is seeking a second term. In addition to Henderson and Landers, Scott faces perennial candidate Glen Schwarz in the first round of the contest on Nov. 8.
Brenda Stallings, an attorney who ran unsuccessfully for circuit judge earlier this year, served as the forum's moderator. Stallings read a series of questions for the candidates, who did not take live questions from audience members.
Landers, who was absent from the forum Wednesday, gave an interview to the Arkansas Times recently in which he suggested that the department ought to rely on more police dogs and drones.
Drones could make up for the absence of the Police Department's helicopter program, Landers indicated, according to the Times.
As of July 2020, the department was working to sell its last helicopter, which had not flown since December 2018, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported two years ago.
As far as canines, "Every shift needs a dog because a lot of times, a dog can defuse," Landers told the Times. "They can get in there so quickly instead of a man or woman walking in somebody's house where a guy has a gun on somebody. I want to have a dog available in case it's the right thing to do. Every circumstance is different."
The Central Arkansas businessman known for building a series of car dealerships has made crime the central focus of his campaign. Landers has repeatedly hit Scott over an increase in homicides in Little Rock.
A recent campaign mailer paid for by the Landers campaign listed his three-point plan on crime and noted that he has been endorsed by the largest local police union.
His program calls for increasing law enforcement collaboration on both sides of the Arkansas River, funding better technology and training and recruiting more officers to allow them to patrol every neighborhood in the city.
At the forum, Henderson said he would double down on community-oriented policing if elected mayor.
He later argued that in order to break a cycle in which crime increases every 10 to 15 years, officials ought to invest in after-school programs and education.
"We have to make sure that we're investing in those kids," Henderson said.
Henderson, 39, is a real estate agent and the publisher/president of the food blog Rock City Eats who unsuccessfully sought positions on the Little Rock Board of Directors in the two previous election cycles.
If no mayoral candidate receives at least 40% of the vote in the first round on Nov. 8, a runoff election between the top two candidates will occur four weeks later.
Little Rock mayoral candidate Greg Henderson, left, speaks Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022 at a mayoral forum at the Southwest Community Center as Mayor Frank Scott Jr. looks on. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Joseph Flaherty)