LR officials waiting for new legal means to curb caravanning

Little Rock city directors are still awaiting a caravanning ordinance to formalize the city’s approach to combating disruptive vehicular traffic, more than three months after Mayor Frank Scott Jr. issued an amended emergency declaration as a stopgap measure.

Frustrated officials interrogated Police Chief Keith Humphrey and City Attorney Tom Carpenter during a Board of Directors meeting Tuesday on whether the city has done enough to clamp down on street racing and caravanning via the existing legal framework.

They also asked about the status of the proposed ordinance and raised the possibility of enacting new legislation at the state level.

Carpenter told city directors that he participated in a meeting with the mayor and the police chief recently. He said “the marching orders I have was to have a draft ordinance for many of the issues by Friday, and that’s what we’re working on.”

In late December, Scott issued an executive order related to caravanning and

street racing that amended an earlier emergency declaration. The order created parameters for the city to prohibit unsafe driving activities in parking lots and on other paved or unpaved surfaces owned by private entities.

Since Scott issued the Dec. 29 order, which he described at the time as a short-term solution, the expected formal ordinance has not been presented to the board.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recently obtained drafts of the city’s proposed ordinance to penalize caravanning, drag racing and vehicular trespass.

Under the draft’s language, first-time offenders convicted of drag racing and caravanning could be fined up to $1,000, plus additional $500 fines for each subsequent day of a continuous offense.

Additionally, the proposed ordinance contains language to allow a business owner to obtain a free-of-charge “vehicular trespass permit” that would let the city enforce the ordinance.

During the meeting Tuesday, Humphrey addressed board members with regard to the Police Department’s efforts to combat crime, as well as caravanning, amid an uptick in violent crime in Little Rock.

Humphrey said during his opening remarks to the board that officials were focused on using existing state statutes and city ordinances regarding caravanning. He added, “and keep in mind that we can only do so much with those state statutes and the city ordinances.”

“So where a lot of people think we should be doing more, we have to stay within those guidelines. We can’t go above those guidelines,” Humphrey said.

Vice Mayor Lanes Hines, a frequent critic of Humphrey’s leadership of the Police Department, took notice of the comment. He questioned what different legal approaches the city could adopt to curb disruptive vehicular traffic.

Hines suggested that the city could be more proactive and creative by addressing the issue without falling back on the excuse that vehicular issues are happening all over the country.

On the subject of state statutes, Hines referred to the fact that the Legislature is in session. He suggested that officials work with the Arkansas Municipal League to change the statutes.

“I know we’ve talked about a city ordinance,” Hines said at one point, asking Carpenter, “Tom, when do we get that city ordinance?”

Scott said officials have reached out to state lawmakers. One subject was the use of license-plate readers, but Scott said their understanding was that there was no appetite for the technology because of the perception of a “big-brother policy-perspective.”

Responding to Hines, Humphrey countered that the approach from police officials has been proactive.

He said business owners have expressed hesitation about signing something that says they will pursue charges “because they’re in fear that if they do that, there might be some type of retaliation.”

Other property owners have said it is the Police Department’s responsibility, not theirs, Humphrey added.

“We can write the citations all day, but if they’re not willing to prosecute … it’s unfair to say we’re not being proactive,” he said.

Asked by City Director B.J. Wyrick of Ward 7 if the mayor’s measure on caravanning had “any teeth at all,” Scott said yes.

He then pivoted to emphasize that there is a culture surrounding vehicles that are specifically designed to be loud. “And so [if] you may hear the vehicle being loud, [that] does not mean there’s street racing,” Scott said.

Police have to focus on all crime, not just caravanning, and pursuing high-horsepower vehicles across the city could result in collisions with innocent bystanders, Scott argued.

At-large City Director Dean Kumpuris implored Carpenter to examine the city’s noise ordinance for how it can be applied to the current situation. He echoed Hines’ call for more action on the legal front.

“Bring us back something that we can use to take care of the problem,” Kumpuris said. “I mean, we’ve got an ordinance. We talked about noise, so let’s do something about it, use something we have, modify it and let’s move on with this.”

City directors discussed the issues with Humphrey, Carpenter and Scott for approximately 90 minutes.

Scott finally called for a brief recess after at-large City Director Antwan Phillips grew visibly emotional as he described the need for city directors to direct the same energy to people dying that they are to the subject of street racing.

City officials, including Carpenter and mayoral spokeswoman Stephanie Jackson, did not provide responses to emailed questions Friday regarding the status of the caravanning ordinance and whether suggestions from the city directors floated Tuesday will be incorporated into the working draft.