A group of black men and women put their fists in the air as they exited the Little Rock city board room shortly before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday chanting, "We want justice. We want justice."
That was their response to a 6-3 Board of Directors vote that had just occurred and that turned down a proposal by Ward 1 City Director Erma Hendrix to require new police officers to live in the city.
Hendrix, who is black, said before the vote that the matter is a racial issue, saying her colleagues needed to "stop pretending." She has said in the past that a majority of the Little Rock police who live outside of the city are white, and that requiring police to live in Little Rock would foster better relationships with the community, particularly the black community.
As audience members exited the board room Tuesday, one black woman muttered, "I told you. It went along racial lines. I knew it."
She referred to the board's three black members voting for the police residency requirement, while the remaining white directors voted against it. City Directors Hendrix, Ken Richardson and Doris Wright supported the ordinance. Voting against were Dean Kumpuris, Lance Hines, Joan Adcock, Kathy Webb, Gene Fortson and B.J. Wyrick. City Director Brad Cazort was absent.
Tuesday was the second time in a little more than a year that Hendrix took the proposal to the city board. The board rejected the idea last year in a 4-6 vote. Cazort voted no last year, but Webb was in favor at the time.
Webb said Tuesday that she changed her vote this year after overwhelming concern from her constituents about the number of police vacancies, the difficulty in recruiting police officers and the thought that a stringent residency requirement would only make the situation worse.
The city reported in July that it had 528 police officers, of whom 345 live outside of Little Rock.
Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen and former Judge Marion Humphrey both spoke in favor of a police residency requirement during a citizens comment period before the board's vote.
Humphrey said those who don't like the residency rule can "go get a job in Cabot [or] go get a job in Benton -- wherever they want to go. And we just got to do a better job of recruiting people here to Little Rock."
Griffen said he's lived in Little Rock since 1979 and no one paid him to do so.
"Respect is a two-way street. If you tell me I'm not good enough to be your neighbor, I will say, granted. Then you're not good enough to be my protector. And if you want to be my protector, don't be afraid to call me neighbor," Griffen said.
He said some police who live out of town are like mercenaries.
John Gilchrest, vice president of the local police union, said he took offense to that.
"When I grew up, I was always told a mercenary is someone who is paid to fight. I'm not paid to fight here. I'm employed to serve and protect," Gilchrest said.
Kumpuris and Hines both said they respect where everyone came from with their comments on the issue but they believe that incentives were a preferable way to approach the problem.
"I don't think making anybody do anything is a way to succeed in building a better community," Kumpuris said.
Earlier that evening, the board approved in a 7-2 vote an incentive program for new city employees who choose to move to Little Rock. City Manager Bruce Moore proposed the pilot program that would offer money to new full-time employees to encourage them to move to the city if they live out of town when they are extended a job offer.
Anyone hired after Aug. 1 who doesn't live in Little Rock and is a full-time employee will be offered $5,000 toward purchasing a home or $2,500 to rent a residence in the city.
Voting against the incentives were Hendrix and Adcock, who said the program isn't fair.
Adcock took issue with new employees getting to take advantage of the incentive when longtime employees could not not, and with someone already living in Little Rock who is hired by the city not being offered the incentive, while someone from a surrounding town would.
"We're going to hire someone from Benton or Bryant or Conway who will come in many times and make the same as your 10-year employee, and you are going to give them $5,000? I just don't see how that's fair to our employees," Adcock said.
Moore said he wanted to implement the program for all city employees, but City Attorney Tom Carpenter said that would be illegal.
While providing money to incentivize someone to accept a job would be allowed, the city is prevented from just giving public funds to current employees, Carpenter said.
Several board members supported the incentive proposal but said it was just the first step in what should come.
Fortson said that "retention is as important as recruitment," and joined others in encouraging Moore to research other incentives that could be offered to all employees to live in the city.
Metro on 09/07/2016