Three years to the day — almost to the hour — the emotion over losing one of Pine Bluff’s finest was still fresh in Shirley Washington’s mind.
Pausing to collect herself at times, the seven-year Pine Bluff mayor recalled the day she learned Det. Kevin D. Collins, the man who often served as her driver for many events, was gunned down in a shootout at the Econo Lodge motel on North Blake Street. Collins was 35.
“We lost a friend, a brother,” Washington began before fighting back the tears, “and an outstanding police officer. Detective Collins was a giant in our lives.”
Washington, along with other Pine Bluff residents and leaders, gathered Thursday in what used to be the city’s downtown library at the Civic Center for the “soft opening” of the Detective Kevin D. Collins Center, one-part police training floor and one-part new City Council chamber that can seat 150 — more than twice the capacity of the old chamber.
“It’s an honor. It’s truly an honor,” Collins’ mother, Dornetta “Donna” Hobbs said. “Kevin exemplified training and education. I think he would just be all up for this, so this is definitely an honor, and it does help to know the community came out in numbers like this to support this.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The cost of the renovations was $277,000, according to information from a November City Council meeting.
The Collins Center was dedicated Oct. 5, 2022, during a remembrance for the police officer in the center courtyard of the Civic Center. It was by now that Collins’ family and prosecutors had hoped a ruling on the fate of his suspected killer, Keshone Smith, would be handed down.
Instead, the trial heard before 11th District West Circuit Judge Jodi Raines Dennis has been postponed to Jan. 22 due to a lack of selected jurors. Twelve jurors are needed to hear the case, in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Smith.
“I was kind of expecting that,” Hobbs said. “I didn’t expect us to get a death jury, so God prepared me for that. In due time, justice will prevail.”
Washington said she hadn’t planned for the Collins Center’s soft opening to be so soon, but she wanted the ceremony to happen since the trial had been delayed.
“When it was postponed again, she was really saddened by it,” Washington said. “So, I felt like we had to do something to get the family a lift. So, we quickly sought to do this just to let the family know that his life and legacy are not lost or in vain. That was the main reason we had to make it a point to do this.”
Smith was located at the motel on an active search warrant connected to a homicide in Georgia in 2020 when the shootout happened. On each anniversary of the shooting, a moment of silence has been held at 12:05 p.m. — the time Collins was slain — this time, with a saxophonist playing “Taps” in his memory.
“It’s indelible that we deal with it,” Hobbs said. “It’s going to happen every year. I just thank God that He gives us support and gives us strength in each other, so it’s just something I deal with daily. A lot of people do, but it’s especially days like this the whole community reflects on it.”
Washington revealed she considered also dedicating the space to Officer John Fallis, who was killed by a man wanted for the 1984 murder of two teens in Seattle while investigating a noise complaint on Walnut Street on March 4, 1985, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. (The suspect was convicted of all three slayings.)
Hobbs said that would be inappropriate because the waterfront facility at Regional Park is named after Fallis, according to Washington. Instead, the mayor has asked the public for help in memorializing Fallis at that facility.
The first floor of the Collins Center is what Washington called “a much-needed space” where those who use it will be able to collaborate more. The new City Council chamber, complete with stage lighting and a camera booth, is accessible from the east side of the Civic Center, just around the corner from the old chamber.
New offices for the city’s Code Enforcement department will also be installed in the Collins Center, Washington said.
A date for the Collins Center’s full opening is not yet projected as electrical work continues for at least another month due to ongoing waterproofing work, according to Washington. She said she hopes that date will come by March, when Collins would have turned 39.
“We’re repairing a lot of things left from over the years,” she said. “Some of this had taken place in the 1960s. So, we’re trying to make these repairs. Our goal is to do it right, and so, once all the water is cleared and fixed, we can finish the electrical and we can bring our guys in.
“If we keep the work going, we’ll get everything pristine on his birthday.”