A police station will soon be located in Little Rock’s Park Plaza Mall, with hopes to open before the holiday shopping season.
Violent crimes have occurred in the mall on occasion. Cynthia Gregory, a 47-year-old Baptist Health Foundation fundraising officer, was killed by a gunman in January, less than two months after another shooter injured two people on Black Friday.
The Little Rock Police Department will station police in a 500-square-foot area on the second level of the mall, which is officially known as a public safety annex, when it opens in six to eight weeks. According to a news release, the LRPD outpost will have a first responder-only parking lot and workstation.
The station serves as a hub connecting all of LRPD’s patrol districts and is a component of an initiative to boost police presence in Midtown.
In order to make Little Rock a safer, more resilient place to live, work, and play, Mayor Frank Scott Jr. called the station to discuss yet another creative strategy for preventing and reducing crime.
According to the statement, Park Plaza Mall is supplying the space, constructing it, and carrying out continuing maintenance at essentially no expense to taxpayers. In 2023, Florida-based investment group Second Horizon Capital acquired Park Plaza Mall and declared its intention to rebuild the shopping complex.
At their normal board meeting on Tuesday, the Little Rock Board of Directors gave their approval to the station.
The statement was made almost seven months after Gregory was murdered, an event that sparked a flood of condolences and heartfelt tributes from people on social media. During an alleged attempted robbery in the mall parking lot, 18-year-old Abdel Sallam shot Gregory to death.In addition, there was a gunshot on Black Friday last year that left two people hurt, and in April 2024, a lady was killed in a hit-and-run near the mall entrance.
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