Ward 1 Jackson City Council member Ashby Foote believes additional law enforcement officers are needed on the streets of Jackson in order to get crime under control.
He was among council members who voted in favor of paying up to $500,000 for Hinds County sheriff’s deputies to patrol in Jackson.
Jackson City Council member Kenneth Stokes of Ward 3 put forward the suggestion that Hinds County sheriff’s deputies be hired to patrol throughout the city.
“We’ve got a crime epidemic and if we just sit on our rear ends and don’t do anything we’re complicit,” Foote said. “Jackson is not near as safe as it should be.”
Foote went on to say that the city has done a poor job of keeping police officers and attracting new officers. The city is down by 100 sworn officers.
Don’t expect to see the sheriff’s deputies in place right away.
The city of Jackson will have to prepare an interlocal agreement that will have to be approved by the Hinds County Board of Supervisors and the state attorney general. “That’s between the city and county attorneys,” he said.
Foote said he’s hopeful that the deputies will be at work in Jackson “within the next several weeks.”
He expects the day-to-day duties about how the deputies and Jackson police officers will work to be determined by the sheriff and police chief.
