Jackson Free Press

Major crimes in Jackson decreased slightly last week, with a 22.9 percent drop in violent crime and a 1.3 percent increase in property crimes over the previous week, according to statistics released at a Jackson Police Department command staff meeting this morning. The weekly trend mirrors yearly statistics: For the year to date, violent crime has decreased 9.2 percent from 2008 numbers, while property crime is up 1.7 percent.

The property-crime increase was most acute in South Jackson's Precinct 1, which saw a 54.8 percent spike in property crimes over the previous week. Auto burglaries and auto thefts more than doubled, while house burglaries rose 41.2 percent, from a total of 34 the previous week to 48 last week. Precinct 1 officers reported 11 violent crimes last week, the same as the week before. The precinct's year-to-date numbers show a 14 percent increase in violent crime and a 9.8 percent increase in property crime.

At this morning's meeting, Commander Wendell Watts, who leads the department's mobile precinct, told command staff that he would be assigning more officers in Precinct 1 and enlisting the cooperation of the Hinds County Sheriff's Department.

Aside from Precinct 1, all other JPD precincts reported overall decreases in crime for the week.

See the Jackson Crime Report for the week ending Dec. 13, 2009.

Previous Comments

ID

154523

Comment

The news of crime, overall, decreasing is promising; however, we can and must do better.

Author

justjess

Date

2009-12-29T12:57:52-06:00