Friends,

The Little Rock Police Department will wrap up its slate of quarterly public meetings on Thursday, Oct. 23, with a meeting at the Southwest Division station, 6401 Baseline Road. At these meetings, LRPD command staff share detailed crime statistics for a particular division and the entire City. For residents and business owners, this is your opportunity to hear first-hand from the men and women of LRPD that serve and protect the community daily.

This quarter, LRPD will share with residents that crime in the City of Little Rock has declined by 25 percent over a five-year period, and by 20 percent in just the last year. Violent crime is down 19 percent over five years and 11 percent year-to-year. Through implementation of our comprehensive violence reduction strategy, we hope to continue these successful crime prevention efforts through the fourth quarter of 2025 and beyond.

LRPD uses statistics and other measures to determine how to prevent crime through tested, data-driven strategies and state-of-the-art technology like our Real Time Crime Center. If you are a resident or business that is participating in our Eyes On The Rock initiative through the Real Time Crime Center, thank you! If you have yet to sign up, please join us as we elevate safety throughout our City.

It takes all of us, working together, to reduce crime and change the perception of crime in our City. Our holistic approach is demonstrating positive results, but there is always more work to do.

Join LRPD on Thursday for at 6 p.m. for one of its quarterly meetings in order to learn more and to offer positive input about how we can finish 2025 strong.

I appreciate you!

New Fire Chief Michael Doan addresses attendees at a news conference on Friday, October 17.

Michael Doan named Little Rock’s New Fire Chief

Michael Doan, a lifetime Little Rock resident with 22 years of service to our City, has been named as the new Chief of the Little Rock Fire Department.

Chief Doan is the right person for the right time, having been selected from among 70 applicants during a nationwide search to become the LRFD’s 14th chief. He succeeds Delphone Hubbard, who was named this spring as city manager.

Chief Doan began his firefighting career in 2003 and rose through the ranks of the Little Rock Fire Department from engineer to fire captain to division chief of training. He became assistant chief in 2019 and was named interim chief this summer.

During his time as a firefighter, Chief Doan has proven his ability to lead a department that ranks in the top 0.2 percent of fire companies, based on its accreditation and its ISO Class 1 ranking. He will oversee all operations for LRFD and its 400-plus team of firefighters.

A proud product of the Little Rock School District as a J.A. Fair graduate, Chief Doan has associate’s and bachelor’s degrees from Arkansas Baptist College, and he has an Executive Master of Public Service degree from the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. He and his wife, Brandi, live in Little Rock and have three children, Faith, Briley and Michael II.

With this selection, we trust Chief Doan will continue the positive momentum and progress we have seen from LRFD over the past several years. The City has invested $4 million in capital improvements at our 22 fire stations, constructed a state-of-the-art Burn Building at our training complex, and agreed to a historic, three-year contract to provide guaranteed annual salary increases, cancer screenings and more to our firefighters.

At a news conference last week to introduce the new fire chief, Chief Doan said this: “Together, we will keep Little Rock safe, strong, and connected. I am humbled by this opportunity and proud to serve alongside the dedicated men and women of this department. Thank you for your trust, your service, and your believe in what we can achieve together.”

I look forward to working with Chief Doan as we prioritize public safety in Arkansas’s capital city.

City’s Pink Picnic Raises Awareness

City team members gathered last week for our sixth annual Toya Robinson Pink Picnic, named in memory of Toya Robinson, a City Hall employee taken too soon by cancer.

The Pink Picnic raises awareness and shows support for those impacted by breast cancer and other forms of cancer. The event is an opportunity for us as City staff to show unity and community, as survivors and everyone affected demonstrate their resiliency and strength.

We asked team members to wear pink in honor and in memory of Toya and so many others who have courageously fought the battle with cancer.

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, we are working to raise awareness and emphasize the importance of early detection. One in eight women in Arkansas will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. However, we know that we can impact survival rates through early detection and treatment.

In solidarity with cancer survivors, we joined UAMS in its Paint Arkansas Pink initiative. A pink sign in front of City Hall shares a message of support and love.

Not just in October, but all through the year, let us work to prevent cancer and support all those impacted by this disease.

Cybersecurity a Critical Tool for City

As Arkansas’s capital city, your local government relies heavily on technology for day-to-day operations. We understand the impact of outages or malicious acts, and our Information Technology Department strives to mitigate risks. We are grateful to our IT team for its work in October, Cybersecurity Awareness Month, to keep us up-to-date on how to protect information and keep our team members safe online.

IT has enhanced Little Rock’s digital defenses by modernizing and securing remote access for City staff, streamlining our log-ins and training team members to spot sophisticated phishing emails.

Everything we are doing is intended to protect critical City services, as well as team member and resident data.

Online safety and security is necessary for all of us, so we are supporting the Arkansas Apex Accelerator in its session coming up Thursday, October 30, at the City’s Willie L. Hinton Neighborhood Resource Center. Businesses can register for the “Business Cybersecurity Fundamentals” workshop on that day.

The National Cybersecurity Alliance offers resources and advice for anyone who wants to strengthen their online safety and protect themselves while on the internet.

Here’s a quick look at what’s going on this week in the City of Little Rock:

Tuesday, October 21: The Little Rock Board of Directors will meet at 6 p.m. in the Board Room at City Hall, 500 W. Markham St. All board meetings are open to the public, and all meetings are livestreamed on the City of Little Rock’s Facebook and YouTube pages. Click here to view the agenda.

Thursday, October 23: The City Beautiful Commission meets at 4 p.m. in the Board Room at City Hall.

Thursday, October 23: The second session of the Residents Academy, sponsored by the Department of Housing and Neighborhood Programs, continues for residents who are interested in learning more about the code enforcement process and how code enforcement works in the City of Little Rock. The Residents Academy meets at 6 p.m. at the Willie L. Hinton Neighborhood Resource Center, 3805 W. 12th St.

Thursday, October 23: As mentioned above, the Little Rock Police Department hosts quarterly meetings to share information about crime statistics and receive feedback from residents. This quarterly meeting is at the Southwest Division station, 6401 Baseline Road. The meeting begins at 6 p.m.