A Brotherhood in Blue
Sheriff says newfound law enforcement cooperation coming together at the right time to knock down crime
news@theeveningtimes.com
The year 2020 will mark 40 years of working in law enforcement for Sheriff Mike Allen – 39 of those in Crittenden County.
And despite a recent spate of homicides in West Memphis, Allen said he has never seen inter agency cooperation among the various law enforcement in Crittenden County better than it is at present.
“As far as agencies working together, in 39 years I have never seen all of the agencies work as closely as they are now,” Allen said.
Allen said a new partnership between Crittenden County Sheriff’s Office, West Memphis Police Department, State Police, Highway Patrol and the Second Judicial District Organized Crime Activity Task Force which includes the U.S. Marshal’s East Arkansas Fugitive Task Force and ATF is helping to get a handle on crime in the county.
West Memphis saw a spate of homicides in April, but thanks to those partnerships, law enforcement agencies were able to locate and apprehend suspects wanted in connection with those shootings.
“Sure, it looks bad when somebody gets killed in your community,” Allen said. “But you’re always going to have homicides.
I think the addition of using the federal system has helped out a bunch.
A lot of times, with state charges they don’t seem to get much time behind bars. It’s kind of a revolving door system. So by using the federal system it gets offenders more jail time and they are out of society for a while longer.
And I think (West Memphis Police Chief) Eddie West and (Assistant Police Chief) Robert Langston are getting a handle on it. It is going to take some time, but I am real optimistic about this area as far as combating crime.”
Allen said law enforcement has changed a lot over the years. Staying proactive when it comes to policing is still the key to keeping crime in check.
He saw 168 murders in the 22 years he was with West Memphis Police Department. Although controversial at times, homicides dropped 54 percent in the ten years when Bob Paudert was Police Chief and in the ten years since his departure due to tougher street enforcement policies he put in place.
“I don’t think the masses liked the way Bob Paudert handled it. But right after he took office, we had a little four year-old girl shot and he kind of put his foot down and said we are going to get out and be more proactive and arrest some of these people selling drugs on the corner and we are going to check them for guns,” Allen said. “There were 40 something more people who were alive because of some of the ways we enforced the law.
“It’s nice to have officers community policing. You want them to be community friendly. But let’s face it. Sitting down and eating donuts with somebody at McDonald’s is not going to stop your crime. At the same time, you don’t want a bunch of thug law enforcement officers out there violating people’s rights. You want them to do it the right way. And I think Robert Langston and them are going about it the right way and will get things under control.”
Allen has been very proactive as sheriff. He’s increased the pay at the jail from $19,000 to $27,000 in order to make the job more attractive to job candidates. He’s also implemented new in-house recruitment opportunities as well.
“We got the pay up for this area,” Allen said. “It’s not the best in the world.
But it is better than it was.
Next week, we have a job fair where people in-house can come in and put their applications in and are interviewed the same day. So we are trying to do more recruitment for the jail. It is very hard to find people ALLEN
who want to work in that field.”
Allen has also increased the starting pay for certified officers as well to get it closer to what other area law enforcement agencies pay. Starting pay for deputies has increased from $25,000 a year to $32,900.
Allen also has the ability to pay more experienced officer an additional 12 percent above the starting pay rate.
“We are now competitive with Marion,” Allen said.
“But there is still a big gap between us and West Memphis. But we do have some deputies who are $40,000. So pay has been a big thing.”
The sheriff’s office has also been able to take advantage of new technology to make policing a county of 600 square miles easier. Each squad car is equipped with a computer which allows deputies to file a report from the cars and not have to return to the sheriff’s office to turn them in.
“Very seldom now do they have to come to the office to do a report other than to drop off an inmate,” Allen said. “It used to be if you were in Horseshoe Lake it was a 25 minute drive from there to the Sheriff’s Department to write a report. They would have to come back and write a report, enter it into the system, then go back. So you were taking an hour just to travel. Now they can sit there and do a report in the car and send it electronically. That has helped a lot on travel and mileage and gas.
And that officer can be out there with eyes and ears on the street and not be sitting in the office.”
Allen said it is going to take continued sharing of information and each agency working together to lower crime in the county in the coming years.
That multi-agency working together approach is already making a big difference, he said.
“Before, we were kind of like islands,” Allen said.
“Marion had their own thing going. West Memphis had their own thing going. And we had our own thing going. Now, we are working together. We are sharing information. We are sharing ideas. If the bad guys are going to sell drugs in Marion, they’re going to sell drugs in West Memphis and out in the county.
These gangs and stuff don’t have jurisdictions. We are following them now. And with this mulita-agency joint working together we have been able to do so much more.
“I think that is going to be the key going forward.
I worked with Eddie West and Robert Langston in West Memphis the whole time I was there. I just think this is a time when law enforcement has come together at the right time.”
