Pulaski County prosecuting attorney candidates share their vision for job

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Bobby Forrest Jr. has introduced he is working towards incumbent Will Jones for Prosecuting Lawyer for Pulaski County and Perry County. 

Each of the lads campaigning for the job hope to cut back crime and enhance public security within the Sixth Judicial District

“We are in the midst of a public safety crisis that threatens our communities,” stated Prosecuting Lawyer Candidate Bobby Forrest Jr.

That is one thing Forrest stated he needs to vary if elected Prosecuting Lawyer for the Sixth Judicial District. 

“Mothers are burying sons. Children are losing their future too soon, and places that were once safe grounds for families are now crime scenes,” Forrest Jr. stated.

That is why Forrest stated he is stepping up not simply to prosecute crime, however to additionally rework the way in which we battle it. 

He is aware of firsthand what it is prefer to lose a cherished one on account of gun violence. 

“On October 12, 2023 I lost my sister to a brutal act of gun violence … Ursula [his sister] worked as a deputy right here at this very spot I stand before you today. That pain lit a fire in me. A deeper drive to stop the bleeding, to prevent another family from feeling what mine has felt,” Forrest Jr. stated.

He calls his imaginative and prescient “smart justice.” It is a five-pillar plan with a number of focuses. 

“Violent and gun crime, juvenile justice, victim and witness protection, community collaboration and tools that addresses the root causes of crime,” he defined.

In Forrest Jr. needs to enact his plan, he’ll must beat out present Prosecuting Lawyer Will Jones. 

Jones stated in his first time period, his believes his workplace has made an enormous distinction decreasing violent crime. 

“… Especially homicides, but we know that we can do more, and we know that one family burying their loved one is too many,” Jones stated.

He hopes to create optimistic change via two tasks within the works.

One of many tasks is The Arkansas Crime Data Community. 

“Law enforcement doesn’t necessarily share information with each other. They kind of have silos of information, and so this is a crime information network that will allow them to share information real time to help them prevent and to solve crimes,” Jones stated.

He stated his workplace will have the ability to use that info to assist them make choices for the group violence intervention undertaking they’re near beginning.

That initiative is one which Pine Bluff has applied. 

“If we can intervene in them, and then if they continue on that path after we tried to help them and get them education and job opportunities, things like that, then we don’t have any choice but to stop it on the back end. But hopefully the prevention piece will work, and we won’t even get to that point,” he stated.

The prosecutors’ race can be selected March 3, 2026 as a part of the midterm main election and non-partisan judicial election.