Jackson Free Press

Read the full report here. (pdf 553 KB)

A sharp upward spike over the past few weeks in the number of south Jackson house burglaries has police officials scrambling to fix the problem.

Jackson Police Department statistics show 44 home burglaries in Precinct 1 in the past week, more than double the number in any of the other three precincts and 63 percent higher than Precinct 1's 27 house burglaries reported for the same period last year.

"Your house burglaries have to improve--and they have to improve right away," Assistant Police Chief Lee Vance warned Precinct 1 Lieutenant Tina Wallace.

Across the city, the number of homes broken into increased in every precinct over 2011. Vance said after the meeting that police aren't sure what is causing the drastic uptick but that they are developing a plan to address the problem.

Vance also acknowledged that many of the arrests for house burglary are juveniles, which he characterized as an ongoing problem in the city. In the meantime, Vance urged residents to be alert and contact the police if they observe suspicious behavior.

There also appears to be a change in some JPD command staff, but Vance said the department isn't ready to talk about the personnel changes just yet.

Here's an overview of major crime in Jackson for the past week:
Total Major Crimes


This Week/Last week: 217/244 Change: -11.1 percent


Year-to-date/Last year-to-date: 515/418 Change: 23.2 percent



Total Property Crimes



This Week/Last week: 188/205 Change: -4.9 percent

Year-to-date/Last year-to-date: 438/373 Change: 17.4 percent



Total Violent Crimes



This Week/Last week: 29/39 change: -25.6
Year-to-date/Last year-to-date: 77/45 Change: 71.1 percent

Previous Commentsshow

[quote]Vance also acknowledged that many of the arrests for house burglary are juveniles, which he characterized as an ongoing problem in the city.[/quote] I remember being blasted by a commenter a few years ago (during the Melton years) for pointing out how many of the robberies and burglaries in Jackson were being committed by juveniles. While I somewhat understand the handwringing about improperly maligning poor black youths, anyone who has experienced firsthand crime in Jacktown knows that there a lot of kids running around all times of the day looking for opportunities to get into trouble. Its a huge problem that needs to be dealt with if Jackson is to ever become a growing city again.

Jeff Lucas

Jan 19 2012