Local TV reporter has harrowing experience with LRPD mouthpiece and files complaint

Russ Racop - January 10, 2021

LRPD mouthpiece Mark Nelson a/k/a Mark Edwards - Ill suited for public employment?

 

On December 11, 2020, KATV reporter Shelby Rose sent iniquitous LRPD chief Humphrey an email requesting an interview.

 

Instead of receiving a response from the chief or his assistant saying okay and setting up a time, Rose got a terse denial of access to the chief from Nelson/Edwards.

 

 

That denial is in direct conflict with information LRPD has on their city website and most all emails that are sent out from the department.

Undaunted, Rose responded and again requested the perhaps Nelson/Edwards himself could be interviewed.

 
As you can see, Nelson/Edwards said no. So much for their #copaganda posted on their webpage.

By coincidence, I happened to be at LRPD HQ on December 11, 2020. I was there picking up a FOI response.

When I arrived I observed a KATV vehicle parked in front of LRPD HQ, and when I was granted access to the building, I observed a female reporter and a male cameraman.

They were in the front lobby.

 

I walked past them to walk down the hall to go to the records counter around the corner.

While waiting to be handed the records I requested, I heard a commotion and started recording.

The video shows Nelson/Edwards and a KATV cameraman going back toward the chief's conference room. The female reporter was not with them. The cameraman has a worried look on his face.

Yes that's a moldy hole in the ceiling

After I was provided with the records I requested, I left the building.  Just outside of the entrance, I observed the female KATV reporter. She was talking on her cellphone and appeared very distraught. 

I can't say for sure that it was Rose as she had a mask on and to the best of my knowledge I've never met her.

The LRPD chief was featured on several newscasts that evening taking about the violent crime in the city. The delusional chief made the comment that "Little Rock isn't dangerous."

Then a few days later KATV was still trying to get an interview with the chief, Nelson/Edwards or any warn body from LRPD.

Notice that Nelson/Edwards is still avoiding giving KATV an interview and mentions that Rose made a complaint against him.

We sent a FOI request to LRPD asking for video from their CCTV system and any complaints filed about Edwards.

LRPD refused to provide the video from their CCTV system showing me, the KATV folks and Edwards as well as the complaint Rose made about hi.

One thing is certain, Little Rock is a very dangerous place and the chief and Edwards are not fit for their positions.

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When Nelson/Edwards was hired the chief let him know I was a problem for him. Edwards contacted a mutual friend in law enforcement. That friend told him I was good at my job and would expose anyone that was doing wrong and with the receipts.

Well Nelson/Edwards, what he told you was 100% correct. 

You might be wondering why we are referring to him as Nelson/Edward's, well apparently his real last name is Nelson and his alter ego/fake name is Edwards.

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KATV has been posting about all the violent crimes on social media. They also tried to get records about the lying Brady Cops in the LRPD ranks and were told no records exist.

We posted a list from records obtained from LRPD. That list is available here and here.

 

 

 

 

 

LRPD's crime analyst supervisor makes false statements calling his and LRPD's credibility into question

Jimmy F. Brooks, Jr. - LRPD's Crime Analyst Supervisor

 

Russ Racop - December 14, 2020

Apparently LRPD's chief crime analyst is a liar. 

In an email Brook sent to Laura Martin (LRPD's  Communication and Community Relations Manager) in October, Brooks made some shocking statements.

✦ Gunfire is "regular background noise' in some areas of the city.

✦ Citizen's make false "shots fired" calls to get a quicker response from LRPD.

✦ The expensive ShotSpotter gunfire detection system is a fail.

Brooks' claims about the false calls to police about hearing gunshots to obtain a faster response time from LRPD caused us to send a Freedom of Information request to LRPD for records and data to back up his assertion. 

No surprise to us, LRPD could not produce a single record or any data to substantiate Brooks statements in the October email exchange with Martin. 

LRPD has policies about truthfulness for sworn and civilian personnel. They also have one about employee actions, on or off duty, that paint the department in a bad light.

Brooks' remarks about gunfire being "normal background noise" in some areas smacks of racism.

Brooks' untruthful statements call his and the LRPD's credibility into question.

Brook's needs to be demoted or fired.

Back in 2017 Brooks wrote a story about transparency in law enforcement. You can view it by clicking here.

 

In that article Brooks relates frustration he had when he was a reporter and had issues with transparency with LRPD. He also mentions "openness". Honesty and credibility are factors in "openness". It's also apparent that Brooks' lacks those.

What about the ShotSpotter fail? That will be discussed in another post.

Until then take a look at this video about ShotSpotter.

City Director Joan Adcock goes after Black resident that assisted the homeless

At-large city director Joan Adcock is well-known for her opposition of actions to remove racist social constructs in the city

 

Emails obtained via the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act reveal that long in the tooth at-large city director Joan Adcock once again has targeted a minority individual and spared no efforts to harass them.

Back in 2013, The Arkansas Times had several stories about Adcock going after minority owned food trucks.

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My attention was called by someone who was there to the waning minutes of the Little Rock Board of Directors meeting Tuesday, when Director Ken Richardson took the mike to ask for a reminder for the board about a policy directive concerning contact between directors and city departments.

Directors, in theory, are supposed to work through the city manager or department heads, not directly with staff members, and not micromanage city government. Policy making, not management, is the ideal.

But, said Richardson, he’d been contacted recently by food cart vendors in his ward who said they’d been “repeatedly targeted” for inspections or observation by the city and he suspected another member of the board was responsible. “Every time they’re inspected they get a clean bill of health,” Richardson said. But he added that the vendors, all Latinos, said they were beginning to feel “some form of discrimination” was at work. “I’d like to look at this before it becomes a serious liability for us.”

I talked further about this Thursday with Richardson, who declined to identify specific complainants. They fear retaliation, he said. I asked City Manager Bruce Moore for a record of requests on taco truck inspections. He later provided a three-year list of violations by traveling food vendors that showed only two in 2013, neither for a Latino vendor. I haven’t heard back from Moore, however, on my followup question: whether there was a record on the specific complaint Richardson made — multiple visits to vendors who were NOT guilty of any rule violations.

Richardson said he couldn’t say where the complaints have originated. Since he suspected a city director is responsible for inspection requests, I turned first to at-large Director Joan Adcock. Adcock is known for aggressive involvement in City Hall business. She rose to political power from Southwest Little Rock, a big chunk of which Richardson now represents and home to many taco trucks and wagons. She once was an opponent of a Latino nightclub in the rapidly changing neighborhood, now heavily minority after beginnings as a working class white community. She is not particularly noted for sympathy on minority issues. She was a student at Central High during the 1957 school crisis and has been cool to events commemorating that episode, including a symbolic city board repeal of a pro-segregation resolution approved by the city board more than 50 years ago.

I sent Adcock questions and left her a phone message. Late last night, I got an e-mail response that said, “Sorry I am so late it has been a very busy day. I am not the person you are looking for.”

Richardson said the person responsible is less important than the action itself.

Sure, city directors have broad portfolio — and a 1st Amendment right — to go to anyone in city government with a complaint about a city business.

But, said Richardson, special requests for city inspections “create confusion for staff, add workload and are ridiculous,” he said. More broadly, he said that the message of the repeat visits is, “You’re not welcome here, even if you’re playing by the rules.”

Richardson, himself a graduate and former student body president at Central High, says the city regularly observes anniversaries of the triumph of the rule of law in Little Rock in the school crisis. “We talk about how far we’ve come. These kinds of actions are a stark reminder that we might have farther to go to move our city to a level we want to move.”

He said city pressure on Latino vendors comes as the city school district deals with allegations that it has been insensitive to bullying of Latino students. “I don’t want that same kind of activity or perception from city government,” he said.

Richardson and I agree on a purely personal level about the gravity of equal treatment of taco trucks. He says he likes them as much as I do. For illustration, I’ve used one of our file photos of my favorite taco wagon, Taqueria Samantha, which sets up on Geyer Springs Road in Richardson’s ward. He tells me that it’s his favorite, too. (Steak quesadilla for him; carnitas burrito for me.) He said he’d checked with Samantha’s operator and it has not been a target of recent inspections. But he said the advent of warmer weather and more activity at the food carts seemed to have spurred the scrutiny.

“Specific targeting of Hispanic food vendors is a bad practice,” Richardson said. “I don’t want us to get in the bad habit of — or being perceived as — practicing discrimination.”

UPDATE: Director Adcock responded further to a followup question I posed after receiving her brief response last night. She says she HAS gotten involved in vendor issues in the past, though not recently.

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Records we obtained from the city of Little Rock and the Arkansas Department of Health reveal Adcock is still using her position to harass minority citizens.

 

 

 

The Health Department apparently sent uncertified letters to the Good Samaritan's place of Business which did not have a mailbox. 

 

 

Photos provided by the Department of Health clearly show the business is located behind a tall locked security fence with no open access to the public or the mailman.

 

The Health Department attempted to stage an entrapment operation, but never caught the Good Samaritan in the act or selling food from her apartment or any other location.

 

 

Director Adcock corralled the Fire Department, Code Enforcement and Water Reclamation Authority to assist her in her harassment of the Good Samaritan.

 

An email from the Water Reclamation Authority substantiates our assertion that the Good Samaritan never received those uncertified cease and desist letters. 

The Water Reclamation email also details that the Good Samaritan was trying to feed and help folks.

 

 

 

 

We have reached out to several city department for additional records and responses to questions. Stay tuned for part 2.
 

Need an accident report? Arkansas Court of Appeals rules you can take a photo of it or copy it with your own equipment for free

 

Attorney Ben Motal - LRPD and the City of Little Rock violated his rights under the AFOIA

 

Russ Racop - November 22, 2020

Back in May, the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled that an individual can inspect and take photos of accident reports or scan them with their own equipment all free of charge. 

That ruling was in an appeal of a case filed by Little Rock Attorney Ben Motal, who had attempted to take a photo of an accident report at LRPD headquarters using his cellphone in October 2018.

LRPD stopped Motal from exercising his rights under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. Motal subsequently filed a complaint in Pulaski County Circuit Court.

Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Mackie Pierce held a hearing and upheld the decision of LRPD/CLR.

Motal appealed Judge Pierce's decision and the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled that Motal's rights had been violated and reversed the decision of the lower court. 

 Motal v Little Rock Appeal Decision by Russ Racop on Scribd

 

LRPD and the city were poorly represented by deputy city attorneys Caleb Garcia and Drew Middlebrooks according to the Opinion filed by Judge Kenneth Hixson.

Not so sharp Little Rock city attorneys Caleb Garcia and Drew Middlebrooks

Obviously, these two were not the top of their class and ended up taking steady public employment instead of going out on their own when no law firm made them offers.

The city has lost several similar lawsuits that we filed over FOI violations and will surely lose the ones we filed this year that are pending in Pulaski County Circuit Courts.

While the feckless mayor and the corrupt police chief claim transparency, no previous administration has had some many lawsuits filed against them for transparency/open records violations.

 

LRPD cop Scottie Lackland charged in illegal pyramid scheme that netted over $320,000

Scamming LRPD cop Scottie Lackland

 

A press release from the Arkansas Attorney General caught our attention today as it mentioned a mercenary LRPD cop being involved with his family in duping folks out of their hard earned money during a medical pandemic...

Says, ‘Don’t be fooled by testimonials that these schemes work’

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today announced the first step in a law enforcement sweep against illegal pyramid schemes organized and operated in Arkansas. The State has filed lawsuits in Faulkner and Saline Counties alleging Defendants represented to consumers that they could earn a 700% return on investment and “bless” their communities by joining a “Blessing Loom” board and recruiting others to do the same. No products or services were offered in exchange for the payment, only the opportunity to earn money. But, when new participants stopped joining and the pyramids’ organizers started using consumers’ money as their own, consumers lost every dollar contributed and unwittingly participated in illegal pyramid schemes.

“These lawsuits demonstrated that we will not stand by while con artists use deceptive tactics to dupe consumers into get-rich-quick schemes,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “As scam artists find new ways to exploit consumers’ economic fears during the coronavirus pandemic, my office will tirelessly work to hold these bad actors accountable for swindling Arkansans out of their money with promises of large payouts and community goodwill. Remember, when people pay a fee for the opportunity to earn money simply by recruiting others into a program, those people are likely involved in an illegal pyramid scheme. Don’t be fooled by testimonials that these schemes work.”

Rutledge’s suit filed in Faulkner County alleges the Lackland family violated the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (ADTPA) by organizing and operating a pyramid scheme they called “Passionate Minds Circle of Wealth.” Within eight months, more than $320,000 was deposited into separate bank accounts held by Scottie Lackland and his wife Valentina from Marion, their adult daughter Sydney Lackland from Marion, and their son Scottie D. Lackland II from Conway, who is also employed as a Little Rock Police Officer. Consumers were encouraged to join with a $500 “gift” that would grow into a $4,000 “blessing” in just 28 days, but, instead, the Lacklands converted consumers’ money and used it to pay off their debt, bolster their savings accounts, and purchase luxury goods and services, including plastic surgery. 

The lawsuit give specific details of  LRPD cop Lackland's involvement in the criminal enterprise.

Lackland's bank records were included as exhibits in the lawsuit.

Lackland has been employed by LRPD since August of 2017.

 

 

More than half of all LRPD officers refuse to live in the city of Little Rock and be a true part of our community. Those are mercenary officers.

Lackland had no record in his personnel file of any suspensions.

 

Lackland needs to be charged with a criminal offense and fired.

 

 

Records of furloughed city employees - Some got their job back and others did not

 

The city of Little Rock has still has all of it's buildings on lockdown due to the Rona pandemic and many employees have been effectively terminated.

We posed these questions to the city:

How many City of Little Rock employees were furloughed, by department, between 3/1/2020 and 10/8/2020.

How many of those employees were brought back to work within the same time period.

What follows is their response.

City Attorney:

City Manager and City Clerk:

Note that the email indicated that Jericho Way sent van drivers home. Wahy to take care of our homeless citizens.

Community Programs:

Criminal Court:

Environmental Court:

Finance:

 Fleet Services:

Housing and Neighborhood Programs:

Information Technology:

Fire Department:

Mayor's Office:

Bridgette is not the sharpest tool in the shed. Perhaps the feckless mayor should have furloughed her.

Parks and Recreation:

Planning and Development:

Public Works:

Traffic Court:

Zoo:

The Zoo showed why it is always in turmoil. They couldn't even prepare a proper list. Might be time to look closely at it's operations.