Jackson Free Press

Now that we're in the throes of another city election, it should come as no surprise that Jackson crime has been a major subject of conversation in debates and forums. In talking about their solutions about crime, many of the mayoral candidates have expressed strong views that crime is a major problem.

But how bad is it? Jackson Police Department officials and official city crime statistics show that the city's total local crime rate has significantly decreased in the last three years.

"All precincts are down, not just Precinct 1," JPD Assistant Chief Lee Vance said.

Vance points to Precinct 3 in northwest Jackson, which over the past three years has reported low numbers. Still, the precinct continues to lead the city in crime reduction even thought the precinct has seen lower crime numbers for the last four or five years.

When the JFP editorial board asked State Sen. John Horhn about his DUI last year, he turned the topic to his experience as a victim of both violent and property crime.

In an interview with the JFP, Horhn said he has plans for both fighting crime and crime prevention. He said he wants to work to figure out if more jail space is needed, put a stop to criminals getting out of jail due to overcrowding, developing more after-school programs and incentivize officers with pay raises.

"I had a five-point plan that I introduced into the Legislature this year. ... First thing is a comprehensive plan, like the RAND Corporation to come in and do a complete assessment of what's going on with crime in Jackson and make recommendations that we can follow.

"The second thing I had—and I've backed off of this a little bit—was a multijurisdictional strike force that would involve federal state and local officials led by JPD. Number three would be a backlog removal process. ... The fourth would be the prisoner-housing situation. ... I wanted a fund that would provide for jail overcrowding. ... The fifth thing is the prevention and rehabilitation piece. We need a re-entry program that speaks to helping young men getting into that ... vicious cycle. What about assisting employers and incentivizing them through a matching grant program to cover half of the wages that their going to pay that ex-offender until he gets on his feet for a certain amount of time?"

Ward 2 Councilman Melvin Priester Jr., who represents Precinct 3, has been outspoken about the need for more "predictive" policing—beyond the crime patterns JPD's current COMSTAT system projects weekly. He says that Jackson needs to follow the lead of many cities that are using more advanced business analysis tools to help monitor crime.

Priester was careful to say that he is not interested in neighborhood or racial profiling, however. He is also a proponent of creating jobs and after-school programs for crime prevention.

"One of the great things about these new tools is that they allow for transparency and accountability in ways that haven't been done before," Priester said. "... I'm saying that we're not doing a good enough job in part because there are more advanced technologies available."

Ward 6 Councilman Tony Yarber talked about his vision for replicating and broadening the work community members in his ward have done to combat crime in Ward 6 and an area of Ward 7 near Terry Road.

"When I first got on council, my ward and specifically the precinct was experiencing anywhere from 50 to 56 house burglaries a week—a week," Yarber said. "We have now taken that down to about 10 to 12 a week, and you can go and track that. "

Margaret Barrett-Simon, who represents Ward 7, feels strongly that building more jail space is the last thing that Jackson needs. She wants to see more investment in after-school programs to prevent crime.

"You can pay now or pay later," Barrett Simon said.

"Every one of these kids that's falling through the cracks is going to end up incarcerated, and I believe that a lot of these kids that are in trouble are in trouble because they're bored."

Vance explained that some of the solutions candidates are talking about are already in the works. He said JPD has been able to chip away at the numbers in all precincts over the last several years through a combination of visibility and quick response time, particularly in South Jackson's Precinct 1 as well as Precinct 3.

"You look at the big numbers," Vance said. "You go to each precinct, and you say, 'OK, what's the worst crime in that particular precinct?

Vance continued: "Then you look at strategies on how to attack that number, because if you attack that number, that means the rest of your crime is going to go down."