RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS AND THE CHIEF OF THE PBPD
March 2005

My opposition is not directed at Lt. John Howell as an individual or any of the other applicants for the position of chief of the Pine Bluff Police Department. As far as the individual personalities involved in selecting a new chief, I don’t have a dog in that fight. Obviously, I want the most qualified individual to get the job. Mr. Howell could very well be that individual, but that is not really for me to say. I am simply opposed to Pine Bluff’s chief living in another community.

I am opposed to a chief living in another community for a number of reasons:

Legal Grounds – Ordinance No. 5863 of the City of Pine Bluff restricts residency for directors of departments, including chiefs of police, to the city limits of Pine Bluff. While Ordinance No. 6021 has also relaxed residency requirements for police department employees (almost to the point that there is no real requirement), it only affects rank-and-file employees…not chiefs. Also, how might circumventing our very own ordinances subject us to potentially expensive litigation?

Philosophical Grounds – A chief of police needs to be intimately familiar with the community in which he is serving, particularly in a community known, perhaps unfairly, as a crime-ridden city. He must experience what our people experience.

Economic Grounds – In a period of depressed revenues and a declining population, it is hard for me to fathom anyone, particularly council members or civil service commissioners, advocating that the City allow the chief’s salary, paid by Pine Bluff’s taxpayers, to become revenue for another community. It becomes even harder to understand that impulse when there are repeated calls to increase the police department’s funding and staffing levels.

Perception Grounds – At a time when Pine Bluff is fighting to rebuild its reputation as a city that is important to this region and to the State of Arkansas…at a time when crime in Little Rock and Hot Springs is eclipsing crime in Pine Bluff and we finally have a chance to point out to potential visitors and investors that perceptions about public safety in Pine Bluff have largely been unfounded and the situation blown out of all proportion… how does it look for our chief to live somewhere else? There is no good message that can come from a chief of the Pine Bluff Police Department choosing not to live in Pine Bluff.

Common Sense Grounds – We require all our elected officials and all our commissioners, including Civil Service Commissioners, to live in Pine Bluff. If there are reasons that those requirements are just and good requirements…and I think they are…why don’t those reasons apply to chiefs?

I would also like to point out that Pine Bluffians had no real opportunity to make their positions known to the Civil Service Commission or to ask questions of the commission. Perhaps it won’t make a difference, at this point, but I would still like to give our citizens that opportunity. I think now, while the City is determining whether Mr. Howell meets all requirements to be chief, we need to have a town hall meeting to discuss this residency issue.

We also need to get opinions from the Municipal League and the Arkansas Attorney General.

I promise you I will always keep in mind that governments were originally formed to provide for the common security of their citizens. It is for that reason that public safety is at the forefront of my administration’s agenda. Reducing crime is an important part of improving our quality of life in Pine Bluff. Not only does it provide a direct benefit to citizens, but it also means increased investment, economic development and the retention and attraction of residents to a community.

It is for that reason, that I assure everyone today that I will commit…whether we who support requiring a chief to live in Pine Bluff prevail or not… to collaborating with any chief who has likewise committed to serving the public safety needs of our citizens and to providing the leadership needed to take our already fine police department to a new level…a level the citizens of Pine Bluff expect from their police department. It is only through such good faith collaborative action that we as a community will achieve the level of safety, success and self-respect this community deserves.