In the wake of drive-by shootings and more homicides in the first six months of 2017 than were reported all of last year, the Pine Bluff Police Department decided to take a new approach to guns and violence, and they say it appears to be working.

“The operation appears to be successful because we’re not finding as many guns as we were but the guys are still out there working,” Assistant Police Chief Kelvin Sergeant said Thursday. “Less guns means less random shootings.

Capt. Terry Hopson, who heads the Investigations Division which includes detectives, vice and narcotics said as of June 26, 44 weapons, including handguns, rifles and shotguns have been recovered in the city and more than 37 people arrested on various drug, firearm and aggravated robbery charges.

Hopson said in a release to The Commercial that the operation began May 1 when police began an initiative to target violent crimes using only detectives assigned to vice and narcotics. They were targeting known offenders of previous violent crimes, mainly involving weapons and drugs. During an 18-day period, those detectives were responsible for seizing 10 weapons and resulted in as many arrests.

Sergeant said on May 18, a decision was made to beef up the operation and a Violent Crime Task Force was created, adding officers from the Traffic, Patrol, and the Detective Divisions, as well as from Internal Affairs. They worked two separate shifts during the day and into the night and early morning, patrolling areas where shootings had taken place and looking for anything that appeared to be a potential problem.

“They did a lot of vehicle stops for drivers who violated traffic offenses to identify people who had been in the area where the shootings had occurred and seized guns after drivers gave them consent to search,” Sergeant said, adding that officers also served three search warrants that resulted in guns and drugs being seized.

Probable cause affidavits that were presented in district court after many of those traffic stops that resulted in arrests indicated that in several instances, the presence of suspected marijuana, either a strong odor or in plain view gave officers probable cause to search.

Those efforts resulted in 25 more weapons being confiscated by officers who were working with the Violent Crimes Task Force, including a rifle with an illegal suppressor attached. Hopson said nine additional weapons were confiscated by patrol officers during their regular tours of duty.

During this same period of time, detectives were working a series of armed robberies that targeted liquor stores, including robberies at Miramar Wine and Spirits and surveillance video from the business, it appeared that the same suspect, later identified as Eric Brown, 30, was responsible.

Brown was arrested and according to a probable cause affidavit presented in district court June 15, Vice and Narcotics Detective Sgt. Jason Howard and Lt. Marcus Smith of the Violent Crimes Task Force were tracking a cell phone that had been stolen during a robbery at Miramar Wine and Spirits when they saw a vehicle driven by Brown that matched the description of a vehicle used by a suspect who robbed Hazel’s Bottle Shop on May 27.

They stopped the car and when Brown was unable to produce paperwork showing he had insurance and told police he didn’t have a driver’s license, Brown was given an opportunity to call someone to come pick up the car but was unable to reach anyone. Before a wrecker towed the vehicle, police conducted an inventory and found a .45-caliber handgun in the front passenger seat pocket. A check of the serial numbers showed that it had been stolen during the robbery of Hazel’s Bottle Shop. Brown was also a convicted felon, including a conviction in 2015 for aggravated robbery.

Sergeant said that detectives are still investigation the other robberies and while they have not made arrests in those cases yet, they have “persons of interest” in many of them.

One thing that many of the guns that were confiscated have in common is that they were seized as a result of drug related arrests.

Hopson mentioned one in particular that occurred on June 20 when vice and narcotics officers, the department’s SWAT team and officers assigned to the task force served a search at 1505 W.31st Ave. After SWAT forced entry, four occupants were detained while the search was conducted.

During the search, officers found 434 grams of suspected marijuana, 947 Xanax pills, 85 assorted ecstasy pills, 101 diazepam pills and 18 quarts of codeine. They also recovered a nine-millimeter handgun.

Two people, Charles Morgan, 27, and Bruce Shelton, 26, were arrested. Shelton, who is on parole, is also on the Violent Crimes Task Force Watch List after being convicted of manslaughter in 2011.

Sergeant said that the task force is going to continue to go after guns but they are now also going to focus on burglaries and robberies and try to bring some of those numbers down.