Jackson Free Press

JACKSON — If you ask some Jackson Police Department officers, the best part about moving to a new location was that now they don't have to take the stairs every day.

"It was upstairs. It was very inconvenient for people walking in. This is more user-friendly," Precinct 4 Commander Keith Freeman said during the opening ceremony on Nov. 16.

The previous location, just off State Street near the Fondren neighborhood, was on the second floor of the building. The new Precinct 4 headquarters at 5080 Parkway Drive, located in the middle of a strip mall across the street from New Jerusalem Church, affords police officers a more centralized location for their patrol area.

"This is where officers meet and have roll call," Freeman said, adding that it would be the home base for the 60 officers assigned to the precinct. "It's just so much nicer and newer."

Vantashi Wilks, who works at the church, stopped by for a tour of the new police station and said she appreciated the presence in the area.

"I just came by for the open house to meet everybody," Wilkes said. "I love it. Everyone is so friendly."

The move comes on the heels of two break-ins in the Fondren business district, which is included in Freeman's precinct. Commander Tyree Jones, JPD's media, in a Nov. 18 interview that the break-ins are not part of a larger trend in the area.

"We don't experience a lot of crime in the Fondren area, I can tell you that," Jones said. "It's one of those situations where someone targeted those locations and were successful with their break-in, but we don't have a crime pattern there."

A lone man broke into Fondren Guitars during the early hours on Tuesday, Nov. 15, making off with some of the merchandise. Jones said that police have made an arrest as of Friday and would release more information about the perpetrator soon.

The other break-in was at Whitley Florist. Owner Robert Whitley said on Nov. 18 that it was a regular occurrence. Every now and then, he said, someone would come and break in the pane glass window to his office and take whatever they could find. This time it was an old laptop and some change.

"It's exactly the same time, every time. It's like a formula; they take a computer, a couple of tools," Whitely said, but never anything substantial. "That's always what they get."

He said that, generally, the burglars do more damage than they steal. The flower shop moved to Fondren in 1968, Whitley said, and since then he felt that the crime has dropped off a bit, but the occasional car or business break-in is expected. He said that these sorts of incidents do not compel him to leave.

"Absolutely not, no. I was born and raised here," Whitely said. "I am not going anywhere."

Email city reporter Tim Summers Jr. at [email protected]. See more local news at jfp.ms/localnews.