Jackson Free Press

JSU criminology professor Jimmy Bell says the city's upcoming crime summit, planned for Aug. 31 will be different from crime summits hosted in other cities, while the ACLU is concerned that the summit will not tackle crime issues in a substantive way.

Co-organizer Bell praised the effort as community-centered. "A lot of the other summits that I've observed have been given by the criminal justice system, with the police, courts and prosecution making decisions that impact everybody else. That's not the way it should be," Bell said. "The discussion should focus on true collaboration and people coming together in the spirit of sharing ideas and talking candidly about the issues."

Bell worked with former Mayor Dale Danks in organizing the summit, which Bell estimates will include hundreds of people from the community, as well as government officials and other organizations like churches and community associations like Catholic Charities. The meeting is open to the public, and rather than feature guest speakers, will consist of a large information session that will then break down into smaller meetings catered to specific groups. One break-away group is designed to work with neighborhood associations, for instance, while another serves to lead church organizations into a more efficient role for promoting community cohesion.

It all ties in with community policing, says Bell. Community policing, unlike traditional policing, is more of a preventive effort. In traditional policing, a crime happens, and then you call the cops, in that order. In community policing, the community takes enough of an interest in local affairs to see the crime coming and try to stop it.

ACLU Public Education Coordinator Brent Cox said he was concerned that the people initially invited to participate in the summit were handpicked by the mayor. "People don't seem to know about it," Cox said. "The people who have a real vested interest, like the neighborhood associations, who are trying to come up with solutions, they didn't seem to be invited."

Bell, responding to criticism that Mayor Melton was too prone to pick clone thinkers to attend the summit, said that the general public is welcome to attend.

But others have low expectations for the summit as well. Although Hinds County Sheriff Malcolm McMillin says his job is a whole lot easier when the community is working with him, he argued that it will take more than one night's meeting to get people to come together and effect change. He even told Hinds County supervisors recently, "we've talked long enough" about crime and that it didn't take a "rocket scientist" to acknowledge that there was a crime problem in Jackson.

Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson said she planned to attend the summit but said she feared the summit "doesn't have the setting of a working meeting."

"I've been in planning meetings where we worked together and made improvements, but this doesn't appear to be one to me. I'll be there to participate, but it's not the format I would've chosen," Peterson said.

"In spite of the naysayers who say we've done this before, I don't think that we've really had an honest conversation from the citizen's perspective. The citizens are key, and they will guide the focus over what happens in the next 12 months," Bell said.

Bell says the summit will hopefully spark enough interest among participants to spin off subsequent summits.

"The summit itself is only a starting point to bring people together to organize different issues. I'm pretty sure the committees that emerge out of it will meet, in my estimation, over a 12-month period, at least."

Attend the crime summit on Thursday, Aug. 31, at 7 p.m. at the TelCom Center, downtown at 105 E. Pascagoula St.

Previous Comments

ID

66786

Comment

I hope that the very first thing on the agenda is a formula to get rid of this City's magnet for crime - frank melton. Until this City is under leadership with people of good character, the wheels on the bus will continue to go "ROUND AND ROUND - ROUND AND ROUND.

Author

justjess

Date

2006-08-31T09:15:15-06:00

ID

66787

Comment

Justjess, FM called a few minutes ago offering you and me a job. He wanted to know if I knew your real identity. I couldn't help him with that, and I turned the job down for fear the job required my taking a similar beating to the one the manager at the Upper Level got recently. Watch out there now!

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2006-08-31T10:40:36-06:00

ID

66788

Comment

I'd love to check in just to see what the actual turnout will be, but instead I'm going to Starkville to watch my Dawgs get whooped by South Carolina for all the nation to see (sigh). Maybe next time.

Author

Jeff Lucas

Date

2006-08-31T10:47:47-06:00

ID

66789

Comment

Well heck Ray Carter, he might be offering you his job. He's the one who should be seeking other types of employment - not you or me.

Author

justjess

Date

2006-09-01T10:41:34-06:00

ID

66790

Comment

Justjess & Ray - I would be in fear if Melton wanted to offer me a job! :o) But hey, you guys don't have to worry - he only hires those who promote HIS beliefs............that leaves you out! (wink) Now dry your tears........I know you are upset that you don't have the opportunity to become liars, media hounds, parasites of the community and I know the real tears come from being unable to ride around every night with King Melton in the MCC with his 'guests' the gang members. Just keep the jobs you have..........your pain will go away! (LMAO)

Author

Katie D

Date

2006-09-01T11:54:33-06:00

ID

66791

Comment

I just posted an early edition report on the crime summit. Check it out.

Author

Brian C Johnson

Date

2006-09-01T13:03:34-06:00