Barely having 25,000 town residents, Paragould, Arkansas seems to have no problem finding trouble. Paragould has had a property crime index rating more than double the national average since 2007. Rapes, burglaries, thefts and assaults per capita are also well above the mean. Now in order to curb the rising crime rate, the city is proposing heavily armed police patrol the streets on foot. Starting in 2013 full-fledged SWAT members equipped with AR-15s will be walking through downtown Paragould. Police Chief Todd Stovall adds that the program would not violate the constitutional rights of Paragould citizens, claiming, “Once we have an area that shows a high crime rate or a high call volume, it is our duty and obligation to find out why this is occurring and what we can do to prevent the trend from continuing. Therefore, identifying subjects in those problem areas help us to solve crimes, and hopefully to prevent future crimes.”
Title: SWAT cops to ask for IDs from everyone in Arkansas town Source: RT Question More, 17 December, 2012 HYPERLINK “http://rt.com/usa/news/swat-guns-paragould-arkansas-224/”http://rt.com/usa/news/swat-guns-paragould-arkansas-224/
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