Smart Justice
Smart Justice covers the pursuit of better outcomes on justice system issues, including incarceration, foster care, and juvenile justice. The podcast is produced by Restore Hope.
Website: http://smartjustice.org
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Smart Justice
A Community at a Crossroads: Understanding Crime in Pulaski County
Gun violence is devastating Pulaski County families and weakening community bonds. But what if there were proven strategies to interrupt this cycle of violence before more lives are shattered?
This episode captures the first of three public meetings where local leaders come together to confront this challenge head-on. Little Rock Police Chief Heath Helton shares encouraging statistics about crime while acknowledging the persistent problem of gun violence, particularly among young people. His message is clear: public safety requires everyone's participation, not just law enforcement's.
County Prosecutor Will Jones reveals the staggering backlog his office inherited and how they're working to deliver justice to waiting families. His colleague Casey Beard introduces the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) strategy, which targets the small number of individuals driving most of the violence, offering support and alternatives before tragedy strikes.
From the Division of Youth Services, Kimberly Key-Bell addresses the profound impact of COVID-19 on youth mental health and educational engagement. She paints a sobering picture: "ghost kids" who disappeared from school during the pandemic and the $120,000 annual cost to house a single youth in the juvenile justice system.
Throughout the discussion, a powerful consensus emerges: violence prevention requires coordinated action across sectors. From credible messengers with lived experience to mental health services, from educational support to community mentorship—each piece forms part of a comprehensive solution.
If you care about community safety, youth development, or evidence-based approaches to complex social problems, this episode offers both hope and practical pathways forward. Join the conversation and discover how you can be part of the solution.
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Violent crime is one of Pulaski County's toughest challenges, but change starts with conversation. Leaders in the county are gathering for three public meetings to explore proven, evidence-based strategies. Safer streets change everything for residents, businesses and the future of a city. Around the nation, gun violence is destroying families and weakening communities, and it's becoming a leading cause of death for young people. We know that in nearly every city, only a small number of people are driving most of the violence. An approach called group violence intervention, or GVI, identifies those individuals and engages with them directly, trying to offer them a way out before the violence occurs. It's not just about stopping the shootings. It's about building a community where everyone feels like they have a shot at hope. Service providers, law enforcement and community members are coming together to share ideas, find solutions and take action. In this episode, you'll hear the first of those conversations, which took place on July 30th. Panelists include Little Rock Police Chief Heath Helton, arkansas Division of Youth Services Assistant Director Kimberly Keebell, pulaski County Prosecutor Will Jones and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Casey Beard.
Speaker 2:My first question is from your perspective, in your particular areas, can we talk about cases like they're up down and then kind of specifically talk about the viney cases that you guys come in contact with from war specific area chief can you tell us about? Yes, we're going to start with you yeah.
Speaker 3:So great question. Uh, you know, for the police department me sitting in my chair data is always a big thing for us. Numbers are tells a story but it doesn't tell the entire story. So, uh, because I do realize a lot of times the neighborhood's perception is reality. You know, one area of the city may be good, another area may be experiencing a lot of challenges. So to kind of give you an idea of where we're at currently with our city numbers so overall violent crime is down in our city 6%. Property crimes are down roughly about 21%. So overall crime right now, year-to-date, is down 18% percent. So overall crime right now, year to date, is down 18 percent. So when we look the year, a year, yeah, that tells us a good story. But for me as a chief, I look at our five-year annals because that truly tells, in my opinion, the health of the city where we're at. Violent crime right now over a five-year average that is down 13, property crimes down 24, overall crime down 21 percent. But we still have challenges that we see this play out weekly. We had homicide earlier this week. Uh, that takes place. So gun violence is truly one of our major achille hills in our community, along with other violent crimes. So how do we figure out to reduce that homicide number, to get the gun crimes and the violent crimes down? So that's what we try to focus some of our efforts to curb that.
Speaker 3:And then we have a problem with our juveniles. We have a juvenile issue penundrum in our city. While there's not enough things for juveniles to do, there's a lot of things that need to go on, that are beyond the police's control. But we've got to figure out how do we be a good partner and figure those issues Right now, the age demographic with our juveniles between the ages of 13 and 17 that's what we see. The majority of our problems when it comes to that juvenile age. When we had the height of our homicides coming out of 2023, when we had 87 excuse me, 81 homicides, predominantly the age range for that was between the ages of 12 to 24, predominantly mostly african-american males. So we have issues there that we know where the problem is and how do we figure out where we start slicing that pie to try to eliminate and get that number down. A majority of our homicides this year acquaintance related or domestic related homicides, meaning individuals that were, they knew each other or it's domestic related very. I think out of all of our homicides, maybe two were just random, but the majority of them people actually knew each other or they were domestic related.
Speaker 3:It's about partnerships, because the police can't do it by ourselves. We talk about public safety all the time. Yes, there has to be an enforcement approach to dealing with issues, but there's a holistic side as well where the police has to do the holistic part. But we have to work with our community partners. Public safety is a role for everybody. It's not just law enforcement, everything. Everybody has a role in public safety. So we have to continue to have those foundations with our community partners, with our community members, with all our neighborhood associations, because that builds the foundation for what I think was on the cusp of doing some really great things. When we try to talk about how we're going to tackle violent crimes, violence, reduce homicides and see some of the efforts that other places around the country have been able to do. I think we're on the cusp of doing that right here in our community and I'm excited about where this is going to go and partner with other stakeholders to try to make that impact.
Speaker 2:Let's hear from the prosecutor's office.
Speaker 4:Yes. So, numbers wise, when we came into our office and we had over 14,000 open cases Now that's a lot of that's because of COVID and the last county courthouse was basically shut down for a few years they just weren't able to have cases where you're having court on Zoom and all of that, and you couldn't if you remember, couldn't really holding anybody on a bond, either right, post-the-adult. We didn't know what the health situation would be in the jail. So they're arresting people. Some people are for very violent crimes and then they're not held, they're wrapped up in the stone streets. So there weren't consequences, there weren't immediate consequences, and so what happens is these cases just kept piling up.
Speaker 4:We first took office, we had over 250 open homicide cases in our office. Can you imagine that it would be in an office with 50 deputy prosecutors, 250 families that are still waiting for justice we're down to 159 now We've been here a little over two years and they would get through over 100 cases and find justice for justice. We're down to 159 now. We've been here a little over two years and they would get through over a hundred cases and find justice for families, all while filing cases that weren't getting filed. Before it gets lost, that there are real human lives behind every one of us, and so the reality is, in a traditional prosecution sense, when the case lands on our desk. When the case lands on our desk, it's too late, right, it's just too late. Two families lives have been shattered because quite likely, the other mother is gonna lose a son for a while. Too right, and that's just what has to happen.
Speaker 4:When you take a life, statistics show the number one deterring factor in committing crimes is being caught and being held accountable, not necessarily what the ultimate sentence is. It is am I going to get caught when I pull this trigger? And I don't think that the way things were, that they had the real thought and real beliefs, but they were going to get caught. And then all this other stuff we're going to talk about here, but it's so valuable. And the reason when I hand her the microconvocation she's going to talk about here, but it's so valuable. And the reason when I handed the microphone to Casey, she's going to talk about that other part of that approach that we do. We need to shore up our advocacy and our work and holding those accountable that have all so much damage to so many families in our community. But then we had to figure out the other part and we had to figure out how we intervene earlier to prevent them from even landing with us in the first place, and so that feels like a good segue, and the microphone Casey.
Speaker 5:So I don't know what everybody else about DVI. The DVI stands for group violence intervention. It is group not gang for a reason. If you get to know the youth issues that we have in violence in the community, it is not always a line, but we historically think that was a gang name or a gang color. It is oftentimes just a group that is together, or at least because they live together on the same street, whether it's because they are from a common neighborhood, whether it's because they are friends from school. Today they might be in this little pack of four people and tomorrow it might be a different pack because there was something that happened and caused them to no longer like each other or get along.
Speaker 5:Gbi is a strategy. It's not a program. It's not going to replace any program we have in our community. It's not going to add any programming that we have in our community. It's a strategy of infrastructure. So we have a lot of resources in our community. We're probably one of the most resource rich communities that are in our state.
Speaker 5:As far as what is out there, the problem has felt like historically that there has. We work in silos because there's not a good linking, you know, ribbon some sort that can link all of that together and help it work the best for the families and youth that are identified. And so with everything is prone right now for many reasons. We have a homicide rate and a juvenile homicide rate that is concerning to us. We have the heart of wanting to work with kids and help the youth in our community, but additionally we have Restore Hope and their hub. If you hear me talking about Neptune, I just said the part about the LinkedIn network. Right, this is a strategy we're running here. We already have the database for it. Part of the thing that will make GBI very successful here is having Restore Hope's Hope Hub, because anyone that is an alliance, anyone that has a service that they can provide or is a moral voice and have a layer back around individuals that are impacted by the violent crime, if they're in our Hope Hub network, then the GBI strategy is going to be able to pull from that. So when we have a shooting, those shootings would be reviewed with information and intelligence. I don't mean like high-level intel of some sort, but just intelligence that tells us who is within the network of that shooting, who might be the person that retaliates, who might be the victim of retaliation after it, who might have just been the known acquaintances that could have been in the area, who may or may not have anything to do with the crime, but they're dangerously close to the crime. Law enforcement agencies often know the names of the groups that are involved in that. Just say, but the parents, you think your kid is dangerously close to getting prosecuted or getting charged.
Speaker 5:We can help bring more stability into this home with a plan like this, with the help of credible messengers. That's the piece that's different in this strategy. Credible messengers are people with lived experience, and they I don't know how else to explain it other than with that lived experience they were able to facilitate the process of following that plan that moved you from crisis to stability by increasing the trust. That plan that moves you from crisis to stability by increasing the trust that a lot of families don't have for somebody showing up at their door wanting to help or being concerned that you're putting them in the court system or being concerned to just having a level of government in your life, and so we would be implementing those two as a purpose strategy. So the hope would be that we can bring that here.
Speaker 5:Funding is always an issue, but we do feel like we are on the cusp of being able to get that started in the community. Once the assessments happen and the tools are in place and implemented, literally everybody that wants to help will have a spot at that table. If you are, especially if you're in the hub and we know that you're out there and exist, no one would be turned away to try to help rock around any of the kids or their families that we find, and so it would. Just, it's a more efficient approach and it is designed to bring everybody together under that one strategy so that we are not continuing to be in silos or, you know, living in our own territories and that sort of thing.
Speaker 3:On the numbers.
Speaker 2:I'm going to answer the original question in terms of what have we seen in terms of numbers in the human justice system or policy state. The question was have these seen a rise? And the answer for us is yes. Human justice has seen a rise in those committed for gun crimes. Covid also, side note, changed our kids. If you have not done the research, go and read about what has happened to our kids post-COVID. Our I've done research. Go and read about what has happened to our kids post-COVID. Our kids are more anxious. Our kids suffer from incidents of depression and anxiety. Anxiety has to come out, you all. Right now it costs us over $320 a day to house one kid. One kid in the Department of EYS and Division of Youth Services for a year is right's over right at $120,000 a year One kid.
Speaker 2:The juvenile justice is not designed to be what Punitive. It's designed to be treatment and rehabilitated. The statute says we can only keep you for a certain amount of time. It's not like the adult system where you can be committed for life. We have a certain amount of time. The research also shows that juvenile just only works if a child is killed for so long. After that period of time we cross a threshold of either doing more harm or institutionalizing that kid, which then becomes worse because they get used to being inside of a system right, which we don't want that.
Speaker 2:We know that after COVID, over 100,000 kids nationwide became what we call ghost kids. Have you ever heard that term before? If we have not, we're not telling you what it means. Ghost kids are the kids that left school because of COVID and never returned, and they don't know where they're at. Our kids come to us. A lot of our kids have not attended school on a regular basis. In two to three years they are reading at a third or fourth grade level in junior high. So that tells me what we're missing the mark. A kid that can't read is going to do what they're taught. He gonna have to fool. You got it. He gonna have to fool cause he don't want you to call on him because he's as embarrassed that he can't read. So you gonna send them out. He gonna get sent to the principal. He gonna keep doing that until he gets the what Sent home. He's at home If he's like most families. His mother is at work, so he is now praying for predators. He wants to enlist them to do themselves.
Speaker 2:We're going to have to think about this from a different standpoint, a different perspective. Remember, I said to you a couple of words earlier solution focus. This is not just an inner city problem. This is a more Arkansas problem. Junior got to do not in his pickup truck. I can solve problems. Junior got in his pickup truck so we got to look at the systemic issues of what can we do to help our kids before, before they enter this system, before they get to me. Once they get to me, I'm twofold. Once they get to me, then how do we support them going home? How do we support them in the house? Here's a little tip If we can get parents that have kids that are in custody to be involved in treatment, to be involved in classes, to be involved in things while their kids are away, we send them back into a better environment and more holistic environments. We need mentors. We need mentors that will stick and stay.
Speaker 2:Don't be a you can't come in because it feels good on the first hand and then leave when you get tired because, julie, you're acting a fool. That's not how this works. This is hard, for I'm tired. I got the real tired I'm I. This is work. I love my job. It's work because our kids are working.
Speaker 2:He had to decide where can you be here? Can you give an hour? Can you give two hours? Because, like jeep said, one of the biggest issues is idle time. I'll find something to do. It's good.
Speaker 2:Y'all can answer all my questions. That then y'all answer. But we're gonna kind of vet track. We're gonna end it with this kind of a dual question.
Speaker 2:I know you guys have limitations on what you can do. I know you probably hear why don't you just do this? Why don't you just do that? What can you or can that? What can you or can? What can you do? What can you not do as far as your limitations in your different areas? And then with that question ended with what can we all do together to help the violet situation? Does that that make sense? What can you do? What can you not do? And then, what can we all do?
Speaker 2:In DYS? We can do assessments, you can provide treatment, you can provide education. We can provide aftercare, we can provide supports. We're not just rocking kids up. Hopelessness breeds contention, breeds resentment, breeds anger and breeds violence. We can help to treat that hopefully prevent that going forward and release that into the community or reintegrate into a community somewhat with more skills, more tools to manage those, you can help our kids to develop with some social, emotional intelligence, which we lack. So if I don't know how to talk, if I don't have the words to articulate my feelings for her, what do I want to do? Talk to her. I want to laugh out, I want to punch her in the face. But if I develop the skills to articulate that I no longer have to be dependent of a gun, I no longer have me to throw a cheater or act out, I have words.
Speaker 3:I always encourage the community to get to know your police officers. There's 14 of us in the command staff. I have three assistant chiefs. I have 10 commanders. It's important for you all, your area of the city where you get to know those individuals that are running those operations and what they do, because it lets you know how, what we can do, what we can't do, from our limitations on those standpoints, and get engaged, get involved, attend community meetings, quarterly meetings, where you can learn about what all is going on in a particular area, because I think that engagement is very important for us and that helps us gauge our success.
Speaker 3:For us, we're going to continue to be best practices Because we are the largest agency in the state capital city. We see a lot of things that other places in our state don't get to experience. However, we're not the know-all, see-all. I network with a lot of my colleagues from around the country and see what they're doing, see what's going on in their cities, paying attention to what, if there's success, if there's something going on, and how we address, uh, homelessness or mental health and things of that nature. I'm going to call those to you say, hey, man, what are you doing? Well, I think you send me some information and then, or if I need to send my folks there to evaluate it, to bring it back so we can implement something that's going to make us better because, essentially at least, apart, yes, we're law, of course, but but we're the customer service business when you look at it reality wise. So we've got to make sure we're putting the best product out there for our community. We understand the community is going to be frustrated at times. They want information very quickly. But I think building those relationships, people can pick up the phone and call and say, hey, what's going on. I think that's very important.
Speaker 3:And there's some more challenges. Staffing is a major challenge for us Operationally right now. Now I've got about 100 vacancies for an agency that's supposed to be staff at a hundred five hundred ninety-five offices. So if you move hundred eight operational vacancies out, it really morphs and change to the way you do business in the organization. So I've had to run some vacancies in different departments.
Speaker 3:But I'm not we're gonna sacrifice what we had to do for the community. We will go without some areas but luckily enough I got great men and women who will pick up the load. Uh, every homicide, every violent count. I take very personal. It worries me to death on the weekends here because you get our business time for the race. Here I have investment. I really do care about this place and how do we continue to fill in those gaps?
Speaker 3:And for me it's maintaining those partnerships of community. Coming out speaking, hearing your problems, I get rocks thrown at me all the time and that's okay, I understand that. But a lot of this communication, being able to sit down and figure out, okay, where there might be differences, what can we do to sit down and work together to solve the problem? Because honestly it's us sitting down and working together. We're not the end-all see-all when it kind of solving issues and serving for me, but that sometimes there are things that are but to.
Speaker 3:We got kids that out there. They're hungry, we have environmental issues, we have abandoned structures. There's so many things, there's so much bigger. But in reality people think when we're young, we have issues or have problems, call the police. So we're the de facto catch-all for everything all that goes on in the city. But we're willing to help facilitate those working relationships, whether it be with community programs, housing, neighborhoods. We'll make the connection and we'll do what we can to assist. But we're going to continue to put forth our best foot and we're going to stumble along the way because we're human. But I can promise you we're going to give everything we got best ever to Petit to make our community safe, to do our part, to engage the community and figure out what we can do to solve and address the problems.
Speaker 4:Well, so the original question was what can we do, and then what can't. So what can we not do?
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 4:So I want to make sure and our office is committed to making sure that the families and the victims impacted by the violence are not forgotten. They are a godly important part of this process and, in my opinion, they are the reason that my job exists. It is to protect our community and make sure that we're standing up for victims, sometimes victims that had nobody else to stand up for. The thing about this we we if people don't really realize this, but as a prosecutor, 30 to 40% of our job happens before a defense attorney even knows they have a job, right? You hear that, oh, I'm a public defender, I'm a defense attorney, I protect defendants' rights and that's true. The thing about this we go to homicide scenes. We're there from the time the crime has been committed. We are working with the police department to make sure that they are protecting, not that they need it. I'm not saying they're trampling people's rights, right. We're working along with them to make sure that the perpetrator's rights are protected. Make sure they get a search warrant Something you may not know in Pulaski County, if police have to get an arrest affidavit, a judge in Pulaski County will not sign that affidavit unless a prosecutor has looked at it and signed off on it first and said that we believe it is constitutionally right, that we believe there is probable cause to arrest this person for it. We signed it and then the judge will sign it. So we are involved in the process from the beginning, protecting the rights of the accused, at the same time making sure that the victims are not forgotten. And so, along with going to those scenes and making sure everything's done right and that the case is progressing the right way, I take it upon myself. Either me or Kelly try to every first meeting that a homicide family has with our office. We're in those meetings and that's not because we're more important than anyone else. What I want them to know is our entire office is behind them and supporting the family to promote justice. And we're down now about six people.
Speaker 4:Now this is nationwide, it's not just us, and nationwide they're. You know, and obviously Chief Elk is dealing with a lot of openings and stuff too, and law enforcement prosecutions. There's a desperate need for people to come and serve, and we are trying every day to recruit people to come and fight alongside us. And then you know, the thing that we can't do is we can't be there to tell someone not to commit this act.
Speaker 4:However, with our community partners, hopefully we can get the message out there and get people to influence them and be a part of influencing them to impact their decision making when it comes to committing that, to fooling that trigger, to being in that situation to begin with, part of influencing them to impact their decision making. When it comes to committing that, to fooling that trigger, to being in that situation to begin with. Hopefully we can have a role in that, even though that's not a traditional prosecution role and even though we're overwhelmed absolutely overwhelmed with what we are tasked with doing. The other thing is is the folks in our office are committed to doing everything we can in the community to help her get primes and make less primes, and work with our partners who are out there on the streets and boots on the ground, and all that to try to change the attitudes of the people that would charged with crimes without their attorney presence.
Speaker 5:So don't be having people call me that have crimes pending against them, wanting to figure out stuff without their attorney. What I also cannot do is share juvenile information and juvenile arrest records with anyone. What I can do is use my. What we and our entire office can do is to use the power that is given to us in this office, the discretion that is given to us in this office, the discretion that is given to us in this office, the integrity that we have and our own morals and values and desire to serve the public and do well with that for the community, to do well with that for the public safety and to do well with that for everyone who crosses our desk. We try to get a case-by-case analysis to that. There's so much work that is going into everything that happens in this office before that first appearance for someone who is charged, and so that is what we can do in office. We can take all of that into our bus decisions for every decision that we have to make. What can we do? That was a broader question for everyone here and I would say talk good about this process, Say that you've heard us and heard our parts and know what is going on up here in front of you and when you hear something that you think sounds like maybe there has not been something happening the way it should have happened, or a decision that got made that shouldn't have been made that way, speak to yourself.
Speaker 5:I think I know somebody that I can call. I think I know somebody that could kind of help us out. I think I know somebody that I can call. I think I know somebody that can kind of help us out. I think I know somebody that would tell us how to logistically navigate this. We'll have some insight, because until we all decide to be friends and work together and be a community that can help heal, we will not heal the hurt people. We will not be able to heal that if we cannot all work together as providers. And people can want to be doing good, and so just join the team, be on the team and be positive about it and help us to get this information out there. Help us to educate others, even only be at so many places at one time that take what you learned today and help us spread that word All right, can we give our panel a hand please?
Speaker 2:And if you want to hear more and want to continue this discussion and want to do the hard, hard work, we will invite you up to our next alliance meeting, and I want to thank Dr Contillo back there. Thank you for hosting. We appreciate you.
Speaker 1:Thank you all very much. Listen to A Shot at Hope on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, or go to smartjusticeorg.
