Jackson Free Press

Nov 11, 2011

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Even though property crimes are on the decline, Jackson's cops will be out in full force this weekend for the annual Capital City Classic football game and other events.

Some 43,000 are expected to attend the game at Veterans Memorial Stadium pitting Jackson State University against Alcorn State University, making it an attractive site for thieves, Jackson Police Department Assistant Police Chief Lee Vance said.

He said that few problems typically occur in connection to the event in the past, but that the department plans to "deploy a visible force to deter crime."

The Jackson Police Department also released this morning its major crimes overview for the week of Nov. 7 to Nov. 13.

Total major crimes numbered 195 compared to 207 the previous week, a reduction of 5.8 percent. The department has also reduced total major crimes year-to-date by 5.2 percent over the same period, from 10,884 last year to 10,321 this year.

Property crimes saw about a 3 percent drop from the previous week, to 165 from 170. Year-to-date, crimes against property are down 4.5 percent to 8,877 from 9,300. Meanwhile, total violent crimes went down to 30 from 37 a week earlier, for a 33.9 percent reduction. For the year, JPD officers have lowered the number of violent crimes 8.8 percent from 1,584 to 1,444.

Although overall crime rates have seen steady reductions, several key areas could still use improvement. Homicides are up 20 percent over last year with 42 so far compared to 35 in the same period last year. Another area that has the attention of commanders is house burglaries, which are up 56.5 percent over last week and 5.3 percent for the year. House burglaries jumped to 72 from 46 last week. For the year, the number has gone up to 3,528 from 3,352.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice announced this morning that the nation's homicide is the lowest in 40 years. The national rate fell to 4.8 per 100,000 in 2010.

"Much of the decline was in the nation's largest cities, those with a population of one million or more, where the homicide rate dropped dramatically from 35.5 homicides per 100,000 U.S. residents in 1991 to a low of 11.9 per 100,000 in 2008," the DOJ said in a statement.