Jackson Free Press

The Jackson Police Department is adding construction to its list of responsibilities. Along with the Jackson Fire Department, JPD will contribute volunteers to the construction of a Habitat house on Winn Street in south Jackson. Construction should take eight working days and wrap up by May 18, Habitat special projects manager Maureen Wishkoski said. The Winn Street house will be the 465 house built by the metro Jackson chapter of Habitat for Humanity, making it among the top 20 most active chapters in the country.

Chief Rebecca Coleman and other command staff will be among the JPD volunteers, department spokesman Joseph Daughtry said.

The Habitat project comes after a difficult week for JPD. From April 12 through April 18, the department saw an overall 20 percent increase in major crimes, reporting 256 total crimes, up from 213 the week before. Officers reported a 28 percent increase in property crime and a 19 percent decrease in violent crime last week. Property crime rose, most notably in auto burglaries, which increased to 75 from 59 the week before, and house burglaries, which rose from 75 to 87. The spike in house burglaries was concentrated in northwest Jackson's Precinct 3, which reported 24 house burglaries last week, twice as many as the previous week. For the year to date, however, Precinct 3 is the only one of the city's four precincts to report a decrease in house burglaries from 2009.

The Weekly drop in violent crime was largely due to a 50 percent decrease in armed robberies, from 19 to 9. For the year to date, JPD has reported 245 armed robberies, up from 191 by this time in 2009.

Read this week's COMSTAT report.