LR Police Boost River Market Security
By: Brittney Johnson
Updated: May 18, 2012
Little Rock Police are beefing up security in the River Market to prepare for large crowds flocking to summer events.
To make sure they have an eye on the crowd police are adding more officers to the streets, some on horses and segways, to help them get a better view of the crowd and also move through crowds easier if necessary.
A major group they are concentrating is young people under age 21 who are too young to enter a lot of the clubs and bars during late night hours.
Lt. Terry Hastings said, "They want to get in but they're too young and they can't get inside so that results in them fighting each other, causing disturbances, we've even had some gunshots and that's something we're going to stop."
Police say there will be roughly 35 officers patrolling the area, many on foot patrol, some on bikes and others cruising the area in patrol cars.
Police say us all about presence, making people know they're here and they're watching.
"I'm from out of town so you want to feel safe and not timid when you're out here by yourself so, I feel real good having safety like that," he said.
Over the past few years police records show a decrease in the amount of crime in the River Market area.
In 2009 there were over 1800 incidents, in 2010, police responded to over 1600 incidents and last year that number was down to a little over 1300 reports.
To make sure they have an eye on the crowd police are adding more officers to the streets, some on horses and segways, to help them get a better view of the crowd and also move through crowds easier if necessary.
A major group they are concentrating is young people under age 21 who are too young to enter a lot of the clubs and bars during late night hours.
Lt. Terry Hastings said, "They want to get in but they're too young and they can't get inside so that results in them fighting each other, causing disturbances, we've even had some gunshots and that's something we're going to stop."
Police say there will be roughly 35 officers patrolling the area, many on foot patrol, some on bikes and others cruising the area in patrol cars.
Police say us all about presence, making people know they're here and they're watching.
"I'm from out of town so you want to feel safe and not timid when you're out here by yourself so, I feel real good having safety like that," he said.
Over the past few years police records show a decrease in the amount of crime in the River Market area.
In 2009 there were over 1800 incidents, in 2010, police responded to over 1600 incidents and last year that number was down to a little over 1300 reports.
Comments
Down to 1300 incidents? No thank you will not be going.
Anonymous A.
May 19, 2012 at 8:53 pm
