Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – September 17, 2025 – A year into the life of the “entertainment district” in Downtown Jonesboro, Police Chief Rick Elliott says there appears to have been no “uptick in numbers” in police activity within the district.
Responding to a request for statistics from City Council member Janice Porter prior to Tuesday afternoon’s Public Safety Council Committee meeting, Elliott told the committee there were a total of 965 policing calls from August 2024 to September 2025. Elliott said he was unable to pull numbers from previous years due to the late request for the information but indicated those numbers could be pulled for comparison.
Among the 965 calls, 146 involved some kind of criminal activity, 18 were for alcohol-related offenses (Driving While Intoxicated or Public Intoxication) and 30 were drug related.
Referring to the 965 calls Elliott told committee members “a call could be a traffic stop, it could be a pedestrian issue, it could be a dog, any call to the police department for any reason from that area goes into this tick mark.”
Elliott also said he believes people are getting wiser about using Uber and Lyft ride share services and taxis. “I commend the community for doing better in that aspect of drinking and being responsible. Overall, I believe our DWIs are down,” Elliott said.
