Jackson Free Press

Major crimes in Jackson rose 11.9 percent last week, with a drop in violent crime not enough to offset a spike in property crimes, according to weekly statistics released at a Jackson Police Department meeting today. For the week ending Dec. 6, Jackson police officers reported three fewer violent crimes than the previous week, keeping with the overall trend: For the year-to-date, Jackson has seen a 9.6 percent drop in violent crime from 2008.

The increase in property crime came mostly from auto burglaries and business burglaries, which rose 42.2 percent and 66.7 percent, respectively, from the previous week. For the year to date, property crimes have increased 1.5 percent; auto burglaries have risen 4.7 percent over 2008, while business burglaries are down 13.9 percent for the year.

The spike in auto burglaries came almost entirely in Precinct 2, which spans the central part of the city, from Clinton to the Pearl River. Of 28 total auto burglaries last week, Precinct 2 officers reported 10 clustered around Morningside and Jefferson streets.

The sharp increase in business burglaries came primarily from Northwest Jackson's Precinct 3, which reported 19 business burglaries last week, up from three the previous week. Fourteen of those incidents occurred at a storage facility near Northside Drive and Flag Chapel Road. A Precinct 3 officer recovered all property from the facility after pursuing two suspects who were carrying a television. The suspects abandoned their car, leaving all the stolen items inside.

Assistant Chief Lee Vance urged officers and command staff to remain vigilant.

"We're really teetering on whether we'll have an overall decrease for the year," Vance said. "We've got two weeks to go. Our focus has to be these property crimes."

See the report for the week ending Dec. 6.