Jackson Free Press

A steady downward trend in major crimes in the capitol city continues, with one notable exception: carjackings. The Jackson Police Department's latest crime statistics show a 32.6 percent increase in carjackings this year compared to last year. In 2012, there were 86 carjackings. So far this year, the city has seen 114 carjackings, records show.

News of carjackings in the metro area has been common recently. In May, a woman's SUV was taken at gunpoint on Highway 18; police found the vehicle at an apartment complex the same day. In June, Jackson police investigated a carjacking near Parham Bridges Park and another at a local gas station after a man made a daring escape. Other cities in the area have also had trouble with carjackings. Four men carjacked a college student's vehicle in Clinton in April.

This afternoon, the Jackson Police Department will hold its first weekly strategy session with interim Chief Lindsey Horton at the helm.

Horton, the Jackson City Council must confirm, assumes leadership of a department that has seen a steady drop in overall crime that began under previous Chief Rebecca Coleman.

Total major crimes in Jackson have decreased to 4,638 year-to-date from 5,290 in the same period the previous year, a drop of 12.3 percent. This includes a 14.3 percent decline in property crimes—auto burglary, auto theft, business and home burglary and grand larceny—to 3,766 property crimes this year compared to 4,392 last year around this time.

Violent crime also went down, albeit by a smaller margin. The number of violent crimes—which includes aggravated assault, armed robbery, carjacking, homicide and rape—has dipped to 872 in 2013 from 898 in 2012.

Of the entirety of violent crimes reported, homicides have had the largest drop from last year at 31.4 percent. Jackson has seen 24 homicides this year compared to 35 in the same timeframe last year.