What did each candidate for mayor say about crime in Shreveport at the YMCA forum Thursday?
The ten Shreveport mayoral candidates gathered Thursday evening for a forum hosted by the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana that centered on their plans for decreasing crime and incentivizing business enterprise.
Each candidate was given the opportunity to introduce themselves before they each answered the same four questions, two of which were about business development and two about crime.
On attacking crime:
Louisiana state Senator Greg Tarver said, "You have a lot of good people who work for the police department," but, "we need to get someone who can actually manage the police department."
Shreveport City Council member LeVette Fuller said, "I'm proud we were able to give the 13 percent raise to the existing police force, but that still keeps them below the national average and the regional average and we've got to keep striving to do better."
Local attorney Tom Arceneaux said, "The short term issues have to do with apprehending those who are there and building stronger relationships between patrol officers, shift commanders and the people in neighborhoods. The long term issues are things like enforcing property standards and removing blight because that's what creates the opportunity for the criminal element."
Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins said, "We have responded to the COVID spike in crime stronger than most cities in our region and today we have 30 percent drop in crime because of the investments we made in SPD."
Local attorney Lauren Anderson said, "These children who are the victims of abuse, their needs are not being addressed at home, so what happens is they turn to the streets to find that support system."
Shreveport native and Cornell graduate Darryl R Ware II said, "I believe a better way to recruit police officers would be by finding officers like Chief Wayne Smith by going down I-49, going into rural communities who find value in protecting and serving a city like Shreveport, Louisiana."
Former military police officer Julius Romano said, "You cannot resolve crime by putting more cops and bars around. It has to be attacked from multiple fronts. Prevention is the issue and giving people the opportunity to work."
Former Shreveport Police officer Tracy Mendels said, "Where there's blight, there's violence. You can put maps side by side and they go together."
Caddo Parish Commission Mario Chavez said, "Whenever I see a police officer I ask what do you need, and of course, they said better pay - we all expected that - but they also said better equipment and they also said a day off."
Local business owner Melvin Slack said, "I would like to give all of the police officers at least $30 an hour. I would like for our police officers to be the highest paid police officers in the world because it's the highest crime area in the world."
To incentivize business development, Arceneaux said he thinks the permitting process should be "more efficient," while Chavez said he would like to see more inventors and manufacturers export from Shreveport. To improve the permitting process, Fuller suggested the city should create a checklist that helps entrepreneurs through each step.
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Kendrick Dante writes for the USA Today Network and is a government watchdog reporter in Shreveport, Louisiana. He enjoys cooking, concerts, and content. Email him at kdbrown1@gannett.com or connect on Twitter @kendrickdante.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Crime and business discussed by all ten Shreveport candidates for mayor
