LITTLE ROCK FIRE DEPARTMENT STILL BREAKS PARKING LAWS FOR PERSONAL REASONS - CHIEF REFUSES TO RESPOND TO QUESTIONS

In March, we posted a story about the Little Rock Fire Department flagrantly violating parking laws for personal use. Click here to read it.

LRFD Chief Gregory Summers assured us that he had addressed the issue.

 

LRFD CHIEF GREGORY SUMMERS

Apparently he told his firemen that they could park anywhere, anytime, for any reason.

We say that because on August 29th, we observed that his employees had parked a truck in a "no parking anytime" zone, within an intersection and right next to a fire hydrant on Polk Street just east on the Height Kroger store.

Apparently it is a regular occurrence at the Height's Kroger for the Fire Department to break the law while shopping for groceries. 

Search for "R and Polk Streets" on Google Earth street view and see what you find.

This is what you will find, LRFD Engine 1 parked in a "no parking anytime zone", on the wrong side of the street!  What assclowns.

Chief Summers did not respond to an email we sent and we don't think he will.  If he actually told his employees to follow the law, he should be furious that his firemen are setting such a bad example by breaking the law to eat lunch and grocery shop and making him look like a buffoon.

Perhaps a change is needed in city government and then a house cleaning for poor examples of leadership in city departments.

CODE ENFORCEMENT EMPLOYEE USES CITY OWNED VEHICLE FOR PERSONAL USE - CITY REFUSES TO ANSWER QUESTIONS

Alice Taylor,  a Code Enforcement Officer with the Planning Department was caught using a city vehicle that is apparently assigned to her (apparently because the city refuses to say if it is a Planning pool vehicle or one assigned to Taylor) at the Goodwill store in West Little Rock.

Taylor was shopping in the store and then seen carrying a bag of items she purchased to the city owned vehicle. As Taylor was opening the car door she was asked what city business she was conducting. Taylor refused to answer and quickly drove off.

One Freedom of Information request and several follow up questions were made to the city.  The FOI request was answered but the city balked on answering the following questions:

1.  Is vehicle 13A291 a pool vehicle in the Planning Department or is it assigned to Taylor?

2. Is there a policy/procedure regarding personal use of a city owned vehicle?

3. Are city employees permitted to use city owned vehicles for personal use?

4.  What city business was Taylor conducting at the Goodwill Store on August 1, 2016 at approximately 3:30 p.m.?

The public has a right to have questions answered by their city government and its employees, both elected and hired.

LRPD SLOW TO RESPOND TO CALLS IN WEST LITTLE ROCK

The Little Rock Police Department has organized Little Rock into three geographic divisions, Downtown, Southwest and Northwest.

If you live in the Northwest Division, LRPD will be slow to respond to your calls if at all. Response time for the Northwest division is much slower that the other two divisions.

 

LRPD Officer Richard Hilgeman calls the delayed response "stressful."

OFFICER RICHARD HILGEMAN

  

Hilgeman said there is a slightly delayed response time for people who live in the city's Northwest Division.

According to statistics from June 2016 the slight delay is almost double for the Northwest division than in the Downtown and Southwest divisions. 

Hilgeman said they're still working to open a new police substation in west Little Rock at the Pankey Community Center which he says should lower response times. He says adding more police officers would lower the response times as well.
 

THE NEVER USED AND UNFINISHED JOSEPHINE PANKEY EDUCATION CENTER

In November of 2013 the Little Rock Board of Directors approved the creation of the LRPD Panky Substation in the vacant and never used Josephine Pankey Education Center.  The center sits on property that was owned by the Little Rock Public School District and deeded to the city in February 2014. One million dollars from  a one cent sales tax measure is to be used to make internal improvements and complete the parking lot (unless the city used the funds for other purposes).

The existing Northwest Division station is located at 10001 Kanis Road and is only 6 miles or 10 minutes from the Josephine Pankey Education Center at 13640 Cantrell Road.

A call made to LRPD on August 1st about a stolen lawnmower in West Little Rock, had a much longer response time.

At approximately 7:30 p.m. a WLR homeowner observed three black males in a white Chevrolet SUV with Arkansas license plate 845 WTF drive off with their lawnmower. A call was immediately made to 911. Almost three and a half hours later, LRPD stopped in (without the lawnmover).  The residence where the theft took place is approximately 2 miles from the Northwest LRPD Station.  Incredible.

LRPD needs to stop making excuses and don that expensive riot gear and protect the citizens of Little Rock.

As long as a majority of LRPD personnel refuse to live in the city, the problems are just going to continue to grow.