The Little Rock Board of Directors quickly dispensed with its short agenda Tuesday night to spend most of its first meeting of the year talking about the widespread celebratory gunfire in the city on New Year’s Eve.
Little Rock Police said there were 1,665 reports of shots fired in the city from 8 p.m.-2 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. That number includes gunshots and fireworks (I’m probably not alone in thinking that, as a seasoned midtown/downtown resident, I would do well in a gameshow version of trying to discern the difference.)
Director Ken Richardson said a loud boom at one point had him wondering if he was in Iraq rather than Little Rock. Director Doris Wright said she was up until 2 a.m., felt like she was in a war zone and considered sheltering on the floor. Director Virgil Miller said he recognized that the problem wasn’t unique to Little Rock, but asked that the city step up its marketing campaign to try to turn the tide. Director Kathy Webb said several of her constituents had researched successful efforts elsewhere and promised to share those findings with Mayor Frank Scott Jr. and her colleagues.
Richardson said the problem was bigger than New Year’s Eve, noting that it was concentrated in areas that suffer from the most societal ills and that many of those doing the shooting had unbelievable access to a wide range of firearms and weren’t likely to be deterred by a marketing campaign or increased police patrols. He asked his colleagues to think about a program to address the larger issues.
At-Large Director Antwan Phillips asked City Manager Bruce Moore to explore whether some remaining money from the American Rescue Plan could be used for community violence prevention.