ALC-Game & Fish/State Police

All right this will be a start with you. Colonel it's up to you. Tell the folks we help the A. wanting to get a job he was looking right at me. Please enter a separate record. Miller Mr chairman my name is bill brown the director the Arkansas state police. Mister chairman I'm Cody how and the chief legal counsel for department public safety. Thank you. If we are permission I'd like to go ahead and per reading opening statement to the to the committee and be glad to take questions after after after the statement that's okay yes Sir all right thank you Sir good morning Mr chairman members the committee now appearing before the committee today discussed three topics vehicle pursuits including the use of the precision mobile immobilization technique the Pet in other methods we utilize and pursuits. Low profile vehicles utilized by the Arkansas state police in salaries recruitment and retention of law enforcement officers. I've been in law enforcement for forty five years and one of the most complex issues that we deal with respect to the Arkansas state police is a deal with vehicle pursuits one thing I've learned after over four decades decades in law enforcement there is no silver bullet. Or a fool proof checklist when it comes to addressing vehicle pursuits. No two vehicle pursuits. Are the exact same they will have some similar fact patterns but all are unique. We've taken an oath to protect and serve our community those who choose to flee law enforcement for the general public law enforcement officers in themselves in significant danger. These pursuits place officers in difficult situations which always require intense split second decisions. That can mean the difference between life and death. Since twenty fifteen the Arkansas state police has seen a significant increase in vehicle pursuits from twenty sixteen to twenty twenty we saw ninety eight percent increase vehicle pursuit statewide. And what's more alarming intrude bay which is Pulaski County selain county low no county in Faulkner County we seen and I'm president a hundred and seventy plus percent increase in vehicle pursuits. Let's talk about this in real numbers because for our troopers our community these percentages are not abstract they are very real situations we had two hundred thirty two pursuits in twenty sixteen and twenty twenty we had five hundred five vehicle pursuits I thank the number bears repeating five hundred and five proceeds in twenty twenty so far in twenty twenty one we've had three hundred seventy six proceeds would purchase puts us on pace for four hundred and forty big receipts this year. Arkansas is not alone in seeing significant increases in vehicle pursuits. I'm a member of the internet international association she's police the state and provincial section in which includes all fifty state police agencies I'm scheduled to attend the winter meeting in December of IACP stated provincial in Minneapolis Minnesota to me with other kernels of state law enforcement one of the agenda items is for the meeting is vehicle pursuits but since the majority of all states have seen increases in vehicle pursuits. Also as I testified the last time appear before this committee had discussed the number of tickets we've issued for aggravated driving which is defined driving over a hundred plus miles an hour in twenty nineteen we issued one thousand sixty two tickets the year before COVID for a hundred plus miles an hour. In twenty twenty the first full year of covid we've issued a total of two thousand twenty six tickets for speeds up to a hundred sixty miles per hour. To date in twenty twenty one the current number citations is two thousand fourteen and forty this means we will exceed the number we issued in twenty twenty. In addition we're sixteen a significant amount of road rage with weapons being brandished or weapons being fired on a daily basis as of this morning our criminal destination division is investigating twenty four road rage incidents where weapons were fired this is not County the branch here in true pays nothing I'll be sending my office was on the radio will have to Three road rages today or people or brandishing weapons. What is more alarming in the mount of olives we encountered vehicle received here in Arkansas your two month period in twenty twenty one ASP troopers have been fired on three occasions during the vehicle pursuits on one occasion the driver who was fleeing shot at the trooper the suspect was a shooting at the trooper with SKS rifle out its back window on a busy street in Conway Arkansas. Another is involved shooting suspect that our trooper with a fifty round drum magazine pistol in pursuit in a neighborhood in Little Rock Arkansas. The staff quantify the lack of respect for law enforcement officers in the rule of law and counter buyer troopers on a daily basis. Lawlessness is on the rise and despite discouraging nature of that fact our job remains unchanged to protect and serve our communities. In dealing with proceeds it takes a toolbox with many tools to address this complex issue. Now one solution exist since nineteen ninety six the Arkansas state police has utilized a precision in mobiles mobilization technique otherwise known as pit in the dressing vehicle pursuits the pit is a method to reduce risk to the public back including pursuits using a forced rotation of the suspect vehicle causing it to stop. The pit is consider use of force in each trooper must complete a use of force report in a pursuit report after using this maneuver is reporting the pet itself are close reviewed by the first line supervisor the assistant troop commander the troop commander in the division commander. After all pursued strippers must sit with the supervisor to complete an after action report of the video the pursuit if any pop policy violations observed a complaint is initiated by ASP management review and could result in corrective actions and disciplinary action and or additional remedial training. Do the significant increase the number of pursuits over the last five years the number of times Pitt is root is also has increased let's look at the numbers as I told you for twenty sixteen we have two hundred thirty two percent we use of the pit maneuver thirty nine times twenty seventeen we had two hundred ninety six pursuits we use the print maneuver sixty four times twenty eighteen two hundred eighty four pursuits we use pit maneuver AT times in twenty nineteen three hundred thirty nine pursuits we used to pay it procedure ninety six times in twenty twenty five hundred five pursuits we use the pit procedure hundred sixty five times and to date three hundred seventy six percent and we used the pet ninety seven times. The election of the pit has. Has no doubt saved innocent lives of our cans no longer proceed goes the greater the chance of injury or death to the public the suspect or the trooper the trooper also puts his life at risk when having utilized the pit technique at high speeds. Other toolbox other I. tools in our toolbox utilized all regarding vehicle pursuits include hollow spike strips as a stripper spikes utilized the plate the tires of the fleeing suspect for example the trooper I have those in his vehicle you will can get cover enroll the spikes out it will deflate the tires of the car that it is fleeing from law enforcement we also use a procedure called a rolling roadblock that usually takes three three of our state troopers and we try to box them in with the three cars and slow down to get into a to a halt. The news they were trying to use the state police and we're the only agency in Arkansas that's doing it is what we call the star chase device it is a it's a pilot program we start out using the hearing true pain true bill now we have moved to the not large number of pursuits to triple a we have moved it down to you are a true pay all of our system but it's it's a vehicle mounted compressed air system containing two GPS Tax what I mean by that it looks similar to like a little microphone like a sponge on it It is like hot a parties got a magnet but basically is controlled by the trooper inside the vehicle and it launches it in it it will stick to the vehicle they were chasing and that way the the troopers can start tracking the a GPS again it's a pilot program Graham we seen some success but we had some other issues to you during the procedure you have to be close enough to be able to to launch that GPS tags to attach to the vehicle. Not every procedure we have the supervisor and the trooper have the right to terminate a pursuit any time you know that that a forty lies on them and it is all based on whether the risk outweighs the need to the immediate apprehension of the suspect over the last five years a is P. as seen in increase in the number of trooper supervisor termination of pursuits no trooper whatever be disciplined for for terminating the pursuit. That's also this last session we work very close with you all because we re recognize this is a problem first of all we work with yelled increase the penalties on fully DO are as significant increases in in of the flame well we passed ACT seven twenty two to increase the penalties concerning pulling and also St Racine Act ten sixty one we worked with the legislature passes laws to address the street racing. But I thought we take actions by a S. P. to address pursuits and in training area training so imperative to us you know we're only as good as we train we have annual in service training for emergency vehicle operations course we call it the Bach we also training pit legal training since twenty fifteen since I became the director each year in service we focused on driving you Bach pit lock and using your lights and sirens we also purchased driving simulators for for troopers to to be able to train on driving simulators in addition we were close work work with the state police foundation the governor's office and the legislature to build driving track it's out of camp Robinson it is a first class of operation there we train not only state police we train other agencies the goal we built the driving track was to to open up to all law enforcement because you look at it I challenge you to go back to your districts and talk to police chiefs and sheriffs the majority of law enforcement the only trick you Bach training they get is when they go to a leader and after that the rest of the crew they have none for two state police we train every year. Other law forces have that that that ability to do that so that's why we're we're so so excited about our driving track you know we will be the gatekeeper of the driving track but we're able to train state local law enforcement officers you know to drive safely like last year the state police we drove thirteen million miles are troopers DSO driving is for law enforcement makes our living. As mentioned earlier the challenge with pursuits is a complex issue with no silver bullet solution as an agency ASP continues to modern update policies pertaining to pursuits to address this complex issue I know that each member of the subcommittee knows the law enforcement officers humans we're not robots we were not we are not perfect and we do not get it right all the time we do make mistakes we knowledge are mistakes and holder officers accountable we make the necessary changes in policy in training to prevent this mistake from happening again. ASP is dedicated to serving and protecting our community and our pursuit policy is one way in which we competence go if we decide it will not pursue stop clean suspects we're sending the wrong message to the public Cruz must know thankfully and put the public at risk the A. S. P. will take the necessary actions to capture them even we have to use reasonable force to do that. also one of the topics I think some of the committee want to hear from is better low profile vehicles and what we mean by that beginning in nineteen ninety nine the state police began using low profile vehicles part of its fleet this is not a very as standard white charger or it with the visible light bar man on top of the vehicle it's A. Clark is a different color vehicle besides wine is clearly marked a S. P. highway patrol vehicle on the right side of the vehicle only yep LPB is equipped with front and back blue lights and siren which is required for all emergency law enforcement vehicles different colored vehicles allow troopers to billion in. With other traffic also you we did a press release on the twenty five Chevrolet Tahoe's that we got because of that because more elevated the charger allows the trooper better look into the vehicle to see someone is texting me the OPV is used to stop a motor for traffic violations elect late activities we license Irene the LTV if the vehicle doesn't stop will pull up there and where the the motoring public can look and see the marking vehicle the C. ASP star on the door and they'll see state trooper on the front right fender. In addition the OPV help strike the traffic enforcers beaters due to cable Beria's install the meetings of interstates since we can no longer cross the medians to catch speeding violators I give the example last night and one of the tacos one or new unmarked tacos in the troop J. area was driving down interstate a car pass it it's ninety four miles an hour. The trooper stopped to stop the vehicle got the occupants out of one of them was wanted for murder two counts of murder so there's a fine example to work these tacos of already pay it pay big dividends for the Arkansas state police. The OPV will strengthen our abilities are dressed distracted driving to address our pathologies I could current d'italia rate as of yesterday is five hundred thirty seven for tallies on Arkansas roadways. Last year twenty twenty was six hundred fifty four a significant increase from twenty nineteen which is a five hundred eleven twenty eighteen five nineteen twenty seventeen five hundred twenty five in twenty sixteen was five sixty. What we've identified as distracted driving the speed or some of the major factors in our fatale the action is many are for tallies in the rules areas of Arkansas instead of the urban areas most people think most of the tallies are in the urban areas but were actually seen on two lane highways Allen rule Arkansas. Currently we have three hundred fifty eight vehicles on highway patrol division and forty nine of these are classified as LPD vehicles which also marked on the right side of the vehicle and lastly the recruitment retention salaries. During our last meeting we discussed the issues recruiting retention including salary comparisons to other state law enforcement agencies this committee request we complete study of the surrounding states in four to the committee we are putting the finishing touches on this report and will for to this committee as soon as we finalize it we had a delay when the person assigned to this project had to have surgery in addition we were very fortunate we have Dr Mary Hughes with their PhD is joined staff to DPS inverse research and development and she's assisting those projects the look the last time I look to the draft was over fifty nine pages long they've done an outstanding job to to compare of law enforcement salaries and other benefits if you could I'll just touch on a few before the report I think it's it's it's it's very important that you kind of see where we're at to give you a general idea of the ten state police agencies mostly what we consider in the southern region of ICP our salary increase salary ranks seventh out of ten agencies. In our starting salary for Arkansas state troopers forty two thousand three hundred fifty seven dollars. Our sergeants a right to just to above mid level but our lieutenants and and and captain's rank are counted towards the the middle of the lower in. you know also we observe the six out of ten state police agencies offer differential pay for special operations in which the Arkansas state police does not and we also have the lowest uniform kind contribution rate uniform expense that we pay every month it's it's so many different benefits in the also expressed a desire of if you know big city police departments we look at Oklahoma's again our salaries forty two three fifty seven Oklahoma City PD is forty seven thousand four sixty also PD entry salaries fifty seven thousand nine forty two Memphis PD is forty two thousand six thirty nine Little Rock PD is forty three thousand seven forty three and then Fayetteville PD is forty one seven thirty six and I met with several of the legislators to look at retention bonuses that's what we're seeing with local departments now are offering retention bonuses of five thousand or ten thousand dollars to sign on I've had conversations with Larry Walters and we discuss that would take legislative approval but that's that's some of the thing is what we're seeing is all law enforcement are competing for the same people so you don't. The numbers I'll just kind of wanna throw it uses. This twenty nineteen we've had forty four officers separate from the agency twenty twenty we have thirty eight separations twenty twenty one we had fifty one separations some of those are retirements summary of the troopers were terminated and some of them you know once you get on the drop your required to leave after seven years. But on the recruitment in is which were really concerned about is we're seeing a decrease the number of applicants applying to be a trooper when I first came director the state police we had three hundred seventy nine people applied to become an Arkansas state trooper twenty sixteen was three hundred and sixty three twenty seventeen is the year that we could not afford to have a true school so twenty eighteen we had five hundred forty eight applicants twenty nineteen four hundred ten twenty twenty three hundred eighty two twenty twenty one which is a certified school was three hundred three and this year we only had two hundred twenty six applicants becomes Arkansas state trooper. As a car on the Arkansas state police I am very concerned I know that DPS secretary cook shares my concerns these numbers tell the real story I applicant pools are down our tradition is up the question may be why but the solution only comes in reversing the trend we do that with investments in support for the brave men and women in our noble profession again after you know forty five years this you know I think long forces in a crisis we need to be able to recruit recruit and retain our police officers not only for state troopers on talking of our shares departments average salary using around sheriff's office or small town law enforcers twenty eight thousand dollars a year. We have to do is is a state to be able to improve our perfect our profession but with that I'll concluded be glad to take any questions at this time. Thank you for helping comments Colonel greatly appreciate what you said and all the the color you put on all this going on with the state police right now if you would my first questions with from me is would you go back and just kind of give us some some training steps on the pit stop along with what goes into an officer that decides to not one in particular but just overall sure I'll be glad to I'll have the experts behind me serial fees with you these guys are trained to do this every day if I could bring them forward and that will be glad to walk you through the process yes. Please their duties of a record sergeant Cody Williams. Starting invoice. Go ahead. Referred to me. So when we train our troopers in the in our in our troops schools. We try to keep it as simple as possible because the pit maneuvers. Generally a high risk maneuver for everybody involved so we try to do is we teach what we call match touch turn. Which means you match the speed of the violator you touch the recorder panel as close as you can. And then you turn into the vehicle with a one quarter turn which in simple terms is that if it's a ninety three hampers Isshin it would be six and twelve you keep constant acceleration to the pit and we teach our guys of two to utilize that. In that manner it's very important that you follow those steps when when utilizing that maneuver secondly as far as the the dress the second part your question we teach a totality of the circumstances position just like we do in our our policy it's site location nature of the offense there's about seven or eight different. Different of bullet points are policy that you have to hit So we try to teach our guys of totality the circumstances as it pertains to the event itself because like the colonel said in his opening statement that each each a. It's pursuit is very unique not all of them I've never seen one that's the same. So just add on that just with the with the pit it is obviously use of force with all of our use of force training it's a afternoon we uses when what's important now and like you said it pursuits and pets are such dynamic situations that what's important now kind of helps us to. Pull that trooper back and make him realize site what is a really important step right now is it this person's going into a dangerous area like a school zone or that we need to back off and let in and discontinue this pursuit or is this person put the public at such an extreme high amount of danger that the the important thing right then the stop in that vehicle from continuing and causing harm to oppose. Thank you to have any questions from the the Committee. Okay. The representative fielding. Thank you Mr chairman Let me first say thank you all for all the you do and full disclosure my son is also a group ID in group G.. Our chrome of. You talked about the procedure with the GPS highs that done and and and once those lines does it does it hit every time or what have when you. Who launches it actually the Mr Phyllis a good question I mean this is pretty high tech stuff but basically you have a launching device mounted on the front bumper any contains two GPS tags this air compressed you have to get within thirty feet of the vehicle when that thirty thirty feet and you lost the tag and sometimes it's got a laser sight so it'll be a not so you put it on the back of the card you try to get that sometimes hit bounce also times of the state. And if you're able to track that I think it's for a period of up to eight hours the battery lasts that long. but too if you lose sight of it can you track in it you know it takes a great deal of effort to get the tag off the suspect and stop get the kept the tack all the takes a good a good effort because of the glue and also the big magnet so it's just we're just trying to use any to we can help us with this the vehicle pursuit situation you were having mixed results sometimes it's fine I mean I know the one I talked about we launch the in the pursuit on the suspect shot at our trooper it was a good the the tag seating the tech GPS tag level vehicle stuck. Continued it in many started shooting at us and then he finally left the vehicle on foot he was captured later but and you know just another tool to try to help us and and and to try to if we can't stop pursuing the vehicle we we want to but we just don't wanna be in the position to where it you know if we don't try to apprehend the suspects and all the suspects run it I believe the criminals are small enough to know to if a lot of the policies of state police agencies or any police agency they know they what you know that that the law enforcement agency can do or can't do and they take advantage of that but then I answer your question yes so how many times can can a triple launch. He has two two through projectiles and he can do that you know unfortunately we don't have every you know as a pilot program we don't have every trooper called one of those we're trying to see if it's worth the investment to do and it's still you know we start out true pale in true pay but those were the most pursuits are but to pay such a it's taking over we took the waters off the card to build upon bring it down to true but I think the troopers like a but again it's just you have to be position in again every pursuit you need cannot every time that the that the tools going to work mmhm the device thank you Mr chairman thank you come. Thank you representive Eubanks. Mr chairman my questions on retention or recruitment would you rather I waited or if somebody else had other. Questions with regard to this let us wait on that one too okay we'll get down there legenda. Representative wouldn't. Well if you're all arms. It. Hendren too long since you were out there on the road and may still be. But. In all situations. It's not in the chase is not instigated by the state police by the trooper it's instigated by the violator the perpetrates the violation whether to speed all. For some reason you attempt to stop him for speeding in this under a so the action is taken by the troopers it is the result of a of a penalty or a violation of traffic while in their presence is another true. Yes Sir I believe Mr. So. In in the use of the hit. Which. We were we were smart enough when I was out there to use or or had been developed this with it that way that sounds better but in the use of that procedure it's it's a risk anytime you use is to what the end result can be but it's only used when when it is Determined to the necessary by the trooper at that point in time to save other lives for an. Is that right yes Sir that's correct. The term the term that we use is objectively reasonable that's the standard that we have that's the that's the standard that the courts have force that's what we teach our troopers. Thank you Mr heck out sergeant has a pretty solid understanding the legal situation there and if they have to write I mean you know this the courts of set out this objectively reasonable standards and you know a lot of times in the law you have these other things that you look at the really if in use of force it's it's each individual case each individual facts and Aereo and they determined was objectively reasonable right now you would qualified immunity in some of those things we have a really good situation for law enforcement in the eight circuit and so in going back to your your question represent wouldn't and I think you hit on something that's fundamental for us as a society and that is it you they did instigated they're they're doing their job by chasing them we we had a a trooper in Conway a couple months ago Cody deserve that list somebody up for speeding and he took off and it wasn't the ten fifteen seconds the second A. K. forty seven out the window we start taking shots at the trooper young trooper great trooper and you can see you can hear the the bullet hit the the patrol vehicle you can see the ball it again the middle of the day in Conway you can see the board hitting off the road in the in a busy intersection bid it busy road in Conway at some point in the trooper continues checks and some point the guy dips over into on coming traffic and then this back over part of the reason they're doing that is because other law enforcement agencies that we're not gonna talk about today have had a policy of when they depend on coming traffic you terminate the pursuit so these criminals go to school on these policies and they think that everybody else has the same policy well guess what state police didn't have that policy we chase them we were able to apprehend them and that trooper is lucky to be alive today he's lucky to be alive and when I when I got up there Sturch Williams was up there one of the first things that young two percent to me by the way has. Six month pregnant wife is do you think I did something that I'll get being built. Okay that's the kind of environment that we created is not just about salaries. Law enforcement has always kind of been dragging behind on salaries but we do it because it's a calling we do it because they're committed to their community and they want to serve. But what we've got now in addition to the salary problems or external pressures external pressures that are coming in that aren't fair to them. Accusations that are made that are unfair to them now here's the thing. Law enforcement is an office of public trust they serving public trust it so we're going to set a high standard for them and they're not going to shy away from that they're proud and so we mess up we have to say we messed up and we're going to fix and we're gonna make it right but we we don't mess up and we're just doing our job the last thing that we need to do is start blaming them for the fact that pursuits have increased exponentially they still have the same job to do and if we don't pursuing what's the alternative. Acquiescence we just don't give up that's not an option at least in Arkansas it shouldn't be and so I realized it's a gone up and you can't remove wet from water and you can't remove risk from law enforcement sometimes it's messy sometimes just messing I've seen videos in the last three months we had a trooper they made a stop on interstate forty in the gas started fighting there rolling around in they come within a foot rolled around the ground of an eighteen Wheeler runner over both. You've got the trooper in Conway that we shot a we have another one that was shot at I mean the these guys faces very real situations and we can't hang company we've got a little do their job they've got to do it right and they're trained to do it right. But at the end of the day we've got a little do their job because they're protecting us and they're laying their life on the line literally for us there's there's a attended io in in southwest little rock and you can see the video and it's a narrow highway that there I could work with speeds on that with those twenty hundred twenty plus and they're coming up to a busy intersection in the camera on the car you can see the intersection coming up and I mean just a ton of cars coming through life's appear and interpret a lesson that car on that narrow shoulder and saved lives at that intersection these guys don't perform the pit maneuver to get their jolly's I can assure you that if you seen any of the videos they're putting their own lives at risk when they do that but it's also they're not pulling another year the training is very specific it scientific I mean I went out a month ago and they put me in a chase car and I was pitted seven or eight times and it's basically the same thing every time at sixty five miles an hour as long as you perform it right it's the same thing And so we don't we can't to train because we do want to protect our our we don't ever want to put the public at risk but these guys are making split second decisions as to what should happen in the back of their mind they're always wondering am I gonna get thing and we've got we've got to reverse that and I don't how we reverse that in Arkansas law enforcement to ninety five percent issue people still support us but at the same time we got to be careful not to place them under such a microscope every time that a split second decision is. Becomes a gotcha we've got to get away from the gotchas in law for holding accountable I prosecuted my share of law enforcement I can assure you I prosecuting sheriff to prosecute jail administrators because if they do mess up on purpose then we got a hold accountable because our public expects that because we can't lose trust in these gas so we've got to hold accountable and they want to be held accountable they police themselves I've seen and so we've got to get back to situation though where we're not constantly adding to the external pressures that are coming to them from the nation writ large sorry. For the committee if I may Mister chairman go ahead Sir It is my pleasure Sir with the state police for almost ten years. And when I was out there. We have the total complete support of the of the department of the other law enforcement agencies that it saves money in the city and I will mention the salaries Rock Creek incentives means a city that the City of Little Rock is paying their starting troopers are starting off patrolman more than we are it disturbs me greatly is the surrounding states in the salaries of some of them are paying their troopers and then to look at what we're paying our troopers from top to bottom it's it's really it's really something that we need to look at very seriously what I want to say it follows along with what Mr Code Cody said It the it is a situation when I was out there from midnight to four o'clock in the morning was the most dangerous time. And at that time I was only trooper between little rock and Fort Smith Russellville. And it was tough you never knew what was going to happen no one second did you know from one minute to the next what would happen. And this puts a tremendous responsibility on the trooper he does not need to be second guessed. He needs to be able to the he needs to be heard in and relating back to salaries when he's out there putting his life or she's out there putting her life on the line they don't need to be worrying about whether or not they're going to have enough money to pay their house payment by the groceries or pay the rent. That's a distraction they do not need any distractions out there it takes their total full attention well sure you whenever a chase in Susan a person incentives. The drilling goes the fluent. Saying to you you have got to deal with this situation. And they don't have anyone else out there to help. Most of the killings with the more troopers that we have we are they are very limited for help. The assistance and particularly after a guest electronic in the. So they need all the help they need all the support that we as a legislature can give to and we fought this battle for years we falter same battle the same situations relating to salaries back when I was out the. And and and we need to deal with it in Mr wanted needs to the address it's called for for too long and what's happened the societal pressures of today or anti police you look at Seattle and you look around the country they've played recently and I hate to be critical of Little Rock they recently passed a law here where they told their police department. Marijuana. Is a minor issue. The old address what are you saying the people when you do something like that what are you saying to your police officers. So these are things in society that the urges far beyond. The comprehension of those of us who are law abiding citizens thank you Mr. Thank you representative will. We will get back to the seller report here just a minute I wanna make a make a comment on the pit maneuvers in sales to so you for for the record I support you gentleman on a percent imminently ladies after that because you have to make a split decision and also have a daughter in law who is a state trooper in another state and I've asked her about pit maneuvers and everything the past and she said that is the best safest method to stop a fleeing vehicle and so. With with that being said I trust to determine the calls that you make when you have to make it even with suspects split decision support in on what the representative will say will go a lot hopefully we've seen kind of a turn in the anti police movement with what happened in Minneapolis so hopefully that'll kinda got kind of smooth a bunch of that out and we can get some momentum going to the state of Arkansas so Carl if you want to go on to your we have no other questions you will go on to the next to. Next piece on the agenda. I'm pretty much covered to all three in the opening so we have the OPVs and we have the recruitment retention issues. Thank you representative will you have a question I mean not with thanks well I still have a question about the retention yes we'll go ahead and if you're ready for that Now ready yesterday all right colonel Bryant what what would be the total dollar amount of what you think you might need in order to a deal with recruitment and retention issues and the second part of that is that something we could do to counsel and it or would it require legislation because I believe there's talk of a special session coming up and I didn't know if that might be something that needed to be addressed that. Well first of all I think when we look at these what we really want to study the not only the salary issues but benefits huge. As you know right now if a a true presented on duty if he doesn't have his own long term care disability insurance he has nothing and I see where other law enforcement agencies around the nation pay that you know we're very blessed that that the legislature is paid or health insurance let us pay that the trooper spouse and family which is a great benefit but other agencies pay education so there's different not only salaries there's other different benefits we need to look at S. as far as that I think it would take that the legislature's going take additional monies you know we a I know since I've been here a in twenty fifteen we've been always been good fiscal managers around monies I don't think I've ever had appeared before the legislation set I spent too much. I never will be in that position but you know that's something you it is just critical again you know I my career is coming to a close you know after forty five years of doing this but I'm I'm just very concerned in the future law enforcement because you see the numbers of me traditionally I think we Mr wouldn't work to state police you have two or three thousand people applied to be a state trooper. And we're down to two hundred and something. I would urge you to put together a comprehensive package to present to the legislature yes Sir thank you four of them says want to put that back in your court since you got forty five years in before you retire I would like to have that have that information if you if you could and I would like it to be in less than fifty seven pages long that you mentioned earlier. We can start of a good round number like a hundred thousand this. But you get that together what is going we can help you we don't know the figures and numbers that is going to take you to that I think this entire committee which would like to see that we thank you all or overworked and underpaid for what you do in your last on the line every day anyway for your families and everything else so if you all could do that that that would really be helpful for us Senate Delafield. Thank you Mr chairman. Cody. Yes we're. You know I've always been a strong advocate for competitive salaries especially for law enforcement yes because I I can't imagine doing what you do for the amount of money you did also all this adequate training that's a good sign. But do you do you believe that all this training even even the extra money with a total disrespect for law enforcement that we say not only here across the country but here in Arkansas and if the individuals that are becoming more violent. They're becoming more brazen. with a total lack of disregard for life or property. You've you've witnessed it for the last two years and we've all witnessed it on TV the lost that is sweeping across this land. Do you believe that increasing the salaries. In providing more training will solve the problem. Senator I don't think it's a silver bullet I think it absolutely needs to be done not withstanding the increasing lawlessness over the last couple years I think that the law enforcement is lag behind and I think that sometimes we we and I'm not this is not an accusation for the legislature I think it's an accusation for all of us I think we've taken for granted I know in in Faulkner county the sheriff's office because this is not just limited state police it's it's long pour Fortner writ large in the state you know far County pretty you know fifth largest county when other county officials get raises sheriff's office done because it's so large in a such a big hit and so we kind of just get behind to get behind to kick the can down the road so I think absolutely increasing salaries and benefits is important and necessary I think that. Part of the problem with recruitment and retention is morass and I think that is there a lot of factors in that a lot of the you know when I was growing up you didn't disrespect the law enforcement officer you just did and and now they get disrespected on a daily basis and so again becoming a law enforcement officer as a calling it is it is a you know a position where you potentially you we talk about it sacrifice a lot of times these guys are in these ways are actually sacrifice willing to sacrifice their life for people that come from the position of regionally love for your community. So people that still have that people who still have the desire to serve I think you're still going to be able to get those but I think that we have got to do everything we can despite what happens in society despite the issues with family despite the issues with the lack of respect for authority all those things that are coming to play things that are affecting teachers as well I think that you still have men and women who if given the right circumstance will step up to the plate and say you're not send me and I think that's a that's a testament especially in Arkansas especially in Arkansas I think we if we get things right I think that recruitment and retention I mean look we had a young trooper earlier this year that left a hot shot cars. Think about that. Think about that and I don't know why all these reasons for leaving maybe that's just what he wanted to do but we don't need to be losing people that we're investing the hot shot in cars and so we've got a political you know of a ways that is commensurate with the risk that they're taking the sacrifice that they're making about the same time cultivate from a leadership perspective people like you all the governor that the we we respect them and we value then we're going to back them and so that if they mess up will hold him accountable because they have to be there public officials but when they don't mess up in there being falsely accused wrongly accused we're gonna have their back we've got to establish you would get all these external pressures they're facing we've got to make sure that the internal pressures are not there we've got to make sure that they feel like we've got their back from a policy perspective and everything else so that that's a long rambling answer I don't know that that includes mistrial in that includes prosecutors doing their job absolutely judges doing their jobs absent because what we have seen what we witnessed and I've witnessed it. Is is things that used to happen on the backstreets and now move to the main streets of our society so they have become more brazen in what police officers sit and watch television and they watch individual spit on other police officers in another state. And and assault of the police officers and no one is arrested yeah. Those kind of things cannot be tolerated yeah I understand because you can't have a society without laws because we see in certain parts of certain cities in the state when I was U. S. attorney I I had a mayor that came to me and we had we had initiated the the violent crime initiative here in Little Rock and had some success with it and we're taking ballot offenders off the street getting federal time and I had a mayor in a city in Little Rock come to see me in Little Rock any sic code if I thought it would help and I told you the story before but is a cut if I thought it would help I would get on my knees and I would thank you to come to my city to help us when lawlessness when you when you got a break down of the justice system. You know when you don't have public safety you're never gonna have education you're never gonna have economic development it all falls apart and in you devolve into a third world country type situation and any we we've got areas of the state where. The justice the public safety needs to be improved and improved greatly all on all fronts Mr Martin one one last question that's all. Okay. A you know we we seen one point four million illegal immigrants to come across the border that we know of. How many the stop current and me the if any of the stops. Then. With a legal immigrants who don't have a license. Are you talking about the pursuits yes it's the address well I'm talking about the speed in all this sure absolutely violate we catch were you know be human trafficking or they're trafficking in illegal immigrants and we encounter those situations thank you for trying to bring bills you keep track of all of your records I have to check I don't think so Sir but I'll be glad to check into and get back to you with that we do. I would I would like to know how many those stops involve someone who's here illegally. R. is involved in human trafficking or drug. Kernel of you get that information to the staff they'll distribute distributed at all the members yes Sir thank you. Thank you Sir thank you. Thirty one back to what but you say while ago when when you were rambling on for quite a while are your senate the. I think we've proven that we are here to help to have yells back a lot of we would be having these discussions about salaries safety and let them know we have their back to men and ladies out there in the uniform act of quick decisions we would be having the discussions trying to show you all that we do support shall so hopefully you can use that is as morale builder in in get information that we need what we can continue on to help you on possibly it gives more money to make things easier please and women in uniform absolute center the legislature's been good to us okay thank you Sir anything else you need to add kernel no Sir we're good any other questions from committee. But not thank you for your time Sir I thank you Mr chairman members. Richard I can just tell that Austin was just ready to go he thought counted get all his time in the game and fish eight years back I've just seen jumping up and down he told me to talk as long as I could. You would please. In addition to the committee. A good morning to the committee and the thanks for the opportunity to be here this morning I'm awesome booth of the director the Arkansas infrastructure. Thank you Sir go ahead I would choose to give you all an opportunity arts I thank you for the opportunity for it to you to give you all an update I was still one of your colleagues tried for we we went on the record here Last weekend was kind of our Daytona dool with the with the use modern gun Hana and we've got the Daytona five hundred coming up this weekend with modern gun season opening but we are definitely in our peak season of for the Arkansas gamefish Commission you know our trees been going since September for for deer modern gun opens this weekend of course and then we've got taxes and open up on the twenty eighth so that's we're here to do we're having fun doing that since offers to a large part of of my time as the director's been spent focused on our Greentree reservoirs I know that we've that we've been talking about Greentree reservoirs and the the fundamental threats that those reservoirs are are facing from a forest health perspective for some time and also the that you all are not strangers to it but we did make some some water level adjustments to reduce the water on the trees during during duck season this year those water level adjustments will reduce the public opportunity to enjoy our Greentree reservoirs US specifically by me to wildlife management area and regulate wildlife management area. We did not take the decision lightly in and every single thing we do we always whether public opportunity and what impact we're gonna have for the publicly water valor of but it was something that as we watched our timber health declined over years and years and years we're at the point now where one I don't want to kick the can down the road any further may and to the the timber health has declined to the point where the needs of the natural resources are in perfect alignment with long term interest of the water flowers so we we announced that in a press conference on September third which we don't normally do and since then we've been doing public meetings we had our third public meeting last night and North Little Rock we had we had well One a couple weeks ago and Searcy and one it's stuck or and I'm happy to say that the feedback that we've been getting for public water from publicly water Fellers much like myself has been absolutely fantastic of people are starting to see the difference in the darkening the the difference in the habitat and tutors ready for somebody to do something about it so we rolled out a long term strategy for these Greentree reservoirs that'll involve water level changes in the short term. infrastructure modernization in the mid term and comprehensive reforestation and forest management and and the longer term of and again the to feed actions been fantastic one of things we're trying to emphasize as we talk about these public resources is this isn't just about the trees OR the ducks that that that come to eight acres of. From my perspective this is about accountability you know we can point towards longer term challenges like fluctuating river levels are increased rainfall things that are harder to control but at the other day I'm convinced that our Kansans expect us first and foremost to control the things we can control and that's exactly what we're gonna do and we we know there's lots of different factors that contribute to water being on our Greentree reservoirs and if there's a way like at by me to or like at her again that that we do we can mitigate that we're going to do that because there's the things that we control and that's what folks expect of us. The other thing in addition to overall for stealth and accountability in government is that Well I I'm I'm the youngest director in Arkansas game fishery and I'm the youngest one in the country and we believe that the average age of our public land water valor is somewhere between twenty two and twenty five years old and the state has a legacy a publicly water filing and it is time for our generation of water flowers to decide what our legacy is going to be. Whether we want to tell our grandkids what was like to hunt by me to what is like to hunt hurrican or whether we want to hear from them so Only the at the busiest weekend free all coming out of the as we can you kind of give us some some color on the CWD testing for adults and everything that you have support camp so our goal from day one with chronic wasting disease has been to offer free testing in every county to every honor and we have that we have three options for testing they can bring it by anyone of our drop off sites Hendren can bring it to of one of our regional offices or they can bring it to one of our license either deer processors or taxidermist we entered into a five year CWD study with the university of Georgia that's in other states are also participating in rent within the second year of that and and and that's and efforts of fresh trying to be proactive with learning more about this disease the impact on the herd and how to come alongside hunters in combating it but the but the more that we do public meetings the more we get out there the more that we we talk to hunters we just Tellem keep hunting that's the best thing for the herd get your deer tested and learn more about the disease and We're in really good feedback from folks that they're learning more about our as we learn more about it and are under subsections very very. Thank thank you I want to take and get the results back from the test of time the eight it it depends on which option you choose but it should be no no longer than a week now we okay thank you Sir representative Watson. Thank you thank you senator of all make sure that I understood you and this same question I was going to have on CWD or make sure I understood when tested site for each county is that correct director at least twenty Sir okay or that's that's what does no I'm glad I hope I don't miss but missed okay out of turn who we do keep keep this thing under wraps is CWD man this is of the devil that the state for this this natural state that we live in and I know good and well the biologists and everybody involved doing everything they can yes that's right so anyway I appreciate all the efforts and I hope they continue thank you Sir yes Sir. Thank you representative is there any way you can get us a list of all the places are doing the testing in the county so we can distribute that out sure it's available on our website AGFC dot com slash C. W. D. we can get a PDF version and Senate a stuff if you do that greatly attrition I think everyone would like that the way they can distribute out to people in the community or invest in hunting yes Sir we have any other questions For the director. Tell us about for all no one else you ask well everybody everybody there yeah you know that that's basically no matter where you go in the state we all have one thing in common and us we hate for Aug right We've had a pretty good year from the Arkansas game with their side of it you know through the in the October we removed over th three thousand six hundred from our wildlife management areas of and then in addition to that number of about two thousand from private lands and then in addition to that number our participation with feral hog eradication task force we've removed about eleven thousand two hundred we would obviously like to that number to be higher just like everybody else we have sixty one hog traps we're as as you all know well we are really trying to encourage landowners to use for travel for the that shooting and we're saying just a ton of landowner interest in. Hey how can we go on the straps AIR so we do a whole lot of that those sixty one traps are or are fully utilized three hundred sixty five days a year and We just wish we had had more of a there's a product right now that's coming through industry that that that may be Hey cottonseed meal based sterilization fee Sturch we're waiting to hear back from the plant board on that end any kind of studies that they may have the to show it's success so we're working or the task force we're we're doing our own efforts in addition to what the task force is doing and we our way to see what industry can can provide us in the way of either sterilization or dark skins thank you know the sterilization method that you mentioned just in that the same when they were used in Texas that we discussed a little bit the last time yes Sir thank you. Representative very. Thank you Mr ever understood you to say you had sixty one tryouts is there any type of a waiting list. The it'll the known yet I imagine there is it'll also depend on what part of the state you know those structure in. Thank you question. Thanks. That the traps or dirty please E. right now in South Arkansas my correct on that yeah we have a lot ends ends Southwest Arkansas and also in the Texarkana region you know western part to stay and also north central so we have a pretty spread out okay thank you any other questions committee. That being said you're welcome close. It didn't have any further comment sir but thank you all again for the opportunity to be here Richard very much Sir any other comments or questions from the committee about any issues. Seeing none were turned.