The Police and Fire departments gave their monthly reports Monday to the Pine Bluff City Council Public Safety Committee.
Police Department
Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones said that in the search for a building for the Police Department, she recently toured the A.W. Nelson building across East 10th Avenue and East 11th Avenue from the the civic complex and thinks it may be the best facility for the job.
“Very impressed with it, the staff loves it, we’re doing an analysis of it with the project manager,” Davis-Jones said.
Other facilities that have been considered are the former NAPA Auto Parts building on Main Street and the former Sam Taylor Elementary School. There are potentially environmental concerns with both of those buildings.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Davis-Jones said the project manager for the city’s bond projects, ETC Engineers Inc. President Mizan Rahman, has toured the A.W. Nelson building and thinks it could be remodeled into a centralized police precinct quickly and with minimal effort.
One of the goals of finding a new facility is to centralize operations. Currently, the department has some of its operations at the civic complex, but leases other buildings across town in order to house everything. Davis-Jones believes all of the Police Department will fit into the A.W. Nelson building, with the exception of the Crime Scene Unit and Vehicle Maintenance Unit.
“The building is in excellent condition, great condition,” Davis-Jones said.
Voters approved $1.3 million in bonds for the police department in February 2011, most of which is planned to go toward the new police precinct.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office also considered the building, but according to the latest proposed legislation on the table before the Jefferson County Quorum Court, they are now considering constructing a new building.
Also, Davis-Jones reported that the department’s new text-a-tip program is going well. Tips can be texted to (274637) with the keyword PBPD.
“We’ve gotten several hits off it. We’ve solved two burglaries based off of information we got off of text-a-tip, so it has been effective,” Davis-Jones said.
Also, Davis-Jones said there will be another citywide Neighborhood Watch meeting in April. At that time, all department heads will be invited so there will be representatives available if the public has questions about other aspects of city government.
On Feb. 15, the department will have its next meeting with local ministers about crime prevention at the Convention Center.
And for Black History Month, the department is conducting a coloring contest. The sheets have already been distributed to area elementary schools. They will be collected Friday and the winners will be announced the week of Feb. 20.
Fire Department
Lt. Harold Clark, spokesman for the Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services Department, reported to the committee that the department has hired four new firefighters.
Chief Shauwn Howell and other department employees were in Florida, Clark said, monitoring pre-construction on three new fire trucks that the city has ordered. The three custom-built E-ONE Class A Pumper fire engines are being built at a cost of $1,157,300, with funding coming from the bond issues approved by voters in February 2011. The trucks are scheduled for delivery in September.
Also, Clark reported that the fitness center being remodeled at the department’s training facility is expected for completion before the end of the month and an open house will be held soon.
And Clark reported that Lt. Tim Coats retired Jan. 9 with 29 years and five months with the department.