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| What LRPD calls them and what they really are |
LRPD has held three of what they call "Courageous Conversations".
Apparently they need courage to take these dog & pony shows out to the residents.
These events are being held in churches where the part-time pastors, ones that never speak out at city board meetings or join in protesting police violence against their parishioners, do a lot of shuckin' & jivin' with the feckless mayor and problematic police chief.
They got an ear full at the most recent and probably the last one held in the Otter Creek Community church, just a short distance from the police chief's rental home.
According to photos posted on LRPD's Facebook page, the event drew a very small crowd. But that small crowd had quite a bit to say.
Chief Keef Humphrey was at the Otter Creek Community Church with LRPD Lt. Kendel Cole and banker Doris Gonzalez, who formerly worked for the city as a Community Resource Specialist. Laura Martin, the LRPD Communication Manager moderated.
Little Rock resident and businessman Byron Norwood addressed the speakers and sparse crowd and asked what the point of the meeting was. He said he had heard nothing new in more than 50 years of attending community meetings with police in the city.
"Nothing that any one of you have said this morning is courageous," Norwood said.
Norwood debunked the notion that the jump in criminal activity in the safe city of Little Rock is tied an alleged national trend, something the feckless mayor and problematic police chief have repeatedly used an an excuse.
Norwood believes that excuse is used to minimize how dangerous the city is because it allows city officials to shift responsibility and focus for fixing the problem of violence in the city to other groups, like the federal government.
Chief Keef came back with more of his bullshit, saying he thinks putting Little Rock's crime problems in context with what's going on in the nation is important.
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| Norwood talks with a frustrated feckless mayor |
Norwood fired back saying, "that don't mean much to the families of people hurt and killed in the city by criminals"..."I have little confidence in people who repeat the same rhetoric" without generating results through action".
Chief Keef responded and barked that Norwood's comments were "very unfair" to his department's officers and to the meetings few attendees .
"I think before you start talking like you're talking, you need to figure out what's going on in the city," Humphrey quiped.
The problematic chief was talking out of his ass. Norwood is a life long Little Rock resident and his family is active in civic affairs. The Norwood's are also business owners and well-known in the community.
Norwood countered saying the city's officials have a duty to do more to address the root causes of crime like poverty and bleak outlooks for teenagers. "You don't treat a symptom, you address a problem" ..."and I suggest the problem is hopelessness."
It's time that the city have new leadership in the mayor's office and at LRPD.