Jackson Free Press

The Clarion-Ledger is reporting on its Web site: "The number of crimes reported to the Jackson Police Department reached a 15 year low in 2003, with both violent and major crimes down compared with 2002. Police Chief Robert Moore said community-oriented policing and better use of the COMSTAT process, which allows police to identify where most crimes occur and strengthen patrols in those areas, are among the factors that led to the decline. There were 17,204 major crimes reported to Jackson police in 2003 and 17,721 in 2002 — a 3 percent drop. Major crimes are homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny-theft, auto theft and arson."

See the JFP's archive of 2003 crime-related stories.

Previous Commentsshow

How many believe the C-L will run this headline on page 1 Saturday or Sunday?

ladd

Jan 16 2004

ladd - The Clarion Ledger (and a countless list of others) has spent so much time and ink tearing down the city it will be interesting to see how they respond to positive news. Any crime is too much crime, but I am proud of the City and the police department in making progress after they have been spit on by the public they protect. It seems that many of the people who are such harsh critics of the city and its administration are people haven't lifted one finger to help solve the problem. Congrats to the officers for their strong and courageous efforts to help make Jackson a better place. May we all learn a lesson and unite to make even more progress in the fight on crime in 2004.

anakin

Jan 17 2004

good!

Fielding

Jan 17 2004

Here's the C-L's story about the crime today. It's raining on my newspaper outside right now, so I haven't seen the story's placement on the front page. Crime rate drops 3% in Jackson http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0401/17/ma02.html Rick Whitlow's (inevitable) negative comments in the piece do make me wonder if people really think about what causes crime in a city, and how the community has to band together to stop it in many ways. Stopping/preventing a crime and apprehending a criminal are two completely different things. I was glad to see that Chief Moore started out giving the community credit for helping lower ceime, rather than trying to take it all himself (which seems out of character for him, anyway) and that the C-L actually led with those comments rather than their typical parsing for something to make him/the city look bad. The other comment that struck me was the woman talking about not "feeling safe." That ties directly into the problem of "perception," and why it's vital for the media/citizens not to overblow the perception of fear in a community. To read more about why crime/fear perception hurts a community, click on this story and then scroll to about the 18th comment below where I've linked to a lot of good national stories and academic work about the problem of media-perpetuated crime perceptions. Very important stuff. And once again, cheers to Belmont Trapp for bringing a clear head to this discussion.

ladd

Jan 17 2004

Donna, it's the front page, above-the-fold story. Complete with a graph showing the trends over the past 10 years or so. Excellent placement, reasonably good story. But, I really wish they wouldn't take up space with quotes from men/women on the street in any of their articles. I'd rather here from people who know something about the issues involved, than about some random person's uninformed opinion on the subject. Especially since that's what the the Letters section seems to be devoted to.

kate

Jan 17 2004

Here we go again, Kate. Why in @#$% does The Clarion-Ledger run these letters with blatantly erroneous factual information in them? The fourth-highest crime rate in the country!?! No wonder people are so misinformed. Again, publications should be responsible for the facts in our letters. Mrs. James Bailey: "I gave up on Jackson when I realized the administration is held hostage by racists who would rather see the city become a cesspool of crime than attempt to solve problems reasonably. I rarely venture into Jackson anymore. I miss it, but not enough to brave the fourth highest crime rate in the nation as well as the likes of Councilman Kenneth Stokes." http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0401/19/l05.html

ladd

Jan 19 2004

Also, it's the first letter in the print edition today, FYI.

ladd

Jan 19 2004

I assume people understand why the above letter is so ridiculous. The woman, who lives in Brandon, is clearly referring to the recent Morgan-Quitno "dangerous" rankings for 2002 (not 2003). The Metro area (city plus suburbs including Brandon) came in No. 4; the city of Jackson fell from the 10th "most dangerous" in 2001 to the 16th in 2002, showing a dramatic improvement, at least according to their methodology. Jackson does not have the fourth-highest crime rate in the country, as the letter-writer asserts. Nor does the Metro, although the suburban area is considered by Morgan Quitno to be the fourth "most dangerous." See our Dec. 10 story for more details and context based on actual facts: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=2082_0_4_0_C I don't believe that this letter-writer is at fault for being so misinformed about crime in Jackson. But it is such a prime example of why critical thinking, attention to details and facts, and a newspaper that tries to avoid sensationalism, not hype it, would be so helpful to the health and future of our community. I understand why people who are trying to play politics with the city, and tear down efforts to unite our citizens, would obfuscate the truth. But it boggles my mind that the Clarion Ledger would run that letter as is, not to mention lead the letters column with it. Do they want such an epidemic of misinformation out there? Such games insult our intelligence.

ladd

Jan 20 2004

Interestingly enough, the C-L's own online form states "Letters may be edited for length and clarity." I'm curious why they did not edit the letter to better relay the writer's intent? An editor's note (addendum) would have been nice as an alternative... Or a simple edit would suffice with the writer's permission. Instead, as you noted, the paper continues to hype such misinformation either knowingly or carelessly. Either way, they need to be checked because it does not help the city in any way. I'm sure people on the coast or in the Delta are not as familiar with Quitno's data (re: JXN) as some of us geeks are... ;-)

kaust

Jan 20 2004

I hear you. When I wrote for the Village Voice, there was a letters' editor who factchecked every letter -- not for opinion, mind you (like "Jackson sucks"), but for factual data ("fourth-highest crime rate). I'm really surprised that a company the size of Gannett does not do the same thing; they sure can afford to. Promulgating correct facts strikes me as a major component of civic journalism.

ladd

Jan 20 2004

The "4th in the nation" stat caught my eye that day, too. I guess it really *is* a testament to the editors' opinions of the general population of this city that they would simply print trash like that, with no disclaimer. It's redundant to say that I don't like suburb-dwellers bashing MY city, but I don't think it would be asking too much for the C-L editorial board to get their proverbial asses in gear. Start reading the letters. And hell, just leave the OBVIOUSLY FALSE ones out altogether. Geez.

Jay

Jan 20 2004

Jay, it's a prime example of how people grab something and run with it. The end result is that a story that, when reported straight and fair, actually made the city of Jackson look better -- the new Morgan Quitno rankings -- have been morphed into a false sound bite (fourth highest crime rate) that Jackson-haters are going to use against us. Of course, the media can't control what uninformed city-bashers do, but we don't have to blindly perpetuate it. That's shameful.

ladd

Jan 20 2004

It's pretty lame journalism not to fact check the Letters section. Even fluff magazines fact check their letters. It's just plain shameful for a real newspaper not to do it.

Nia

Jan 20 2004