Shanda Townsend plans to invite the residents of her street in Jackson to gather the weekend of Memorial Day.
On the agenda will be homemade ice cream plus tips from a law enforcement officer about how residents can stay safe.
“We had an incident not long ago on Council Circle where someone was shot and robbed, and because of that, I’m getting my neighbors together,” Townsend said. “I know my immediate neighbors but I want to make sure I get to know everyone on my street.”
Townsend said she doesn’t feel unsafe living in Jackson, but she decided to take action after hearing about the violence committed near her home in the Fondren neighborhood, the theft of a vehicle that occurred on Douglass Drive on May 10 and the armed robbery and carjacking that happened on Eastwood Place on May 12.
“I’m angry all of that happened,” she said.
Townsend isn’t alone in wanting to do something to deter crime in the city of Jackson.
Ken Wilson, president of the Ridgewood Park Neighborhood Association, said crime is a serious issue for the city of Jackson and an April 20 shooting into a vehicle that happened on Ridgewood Road, near the Corner of Adkins Boulevard, brought it home for residents of his neighborhood. The shooting at 11 a.m. left one man dead and another man wounded.
Residents of the Ridgewood Park Neighborhood Association who attended the Jackson Police Department Citizens’ Police Academy several years ago have begun once again monitoring the neighborhood and reporting anything unusual they run across to Precinct 4, he said.
The Ridgewood Park Neighborhood Association includes 2,000 homes and meets at least once a month, sometimes three or four times, to come up with plans for improving the neighborhood, he said.
Wilson believes apathy is among reasons why many Jackson residents have faced crimes in their neighborhoods. “A lot of people are afraid to speak out or haven’t been speaking out,” he said.
Additional police officers are needed along with better public schools, more early childhood education programs and programs to provide social services, he said.
Ward 1 City council member Ashby Foote admits it’s a challenge to find something constructive that citizens can do to help deter crime.
He’s still pushing JPD to take advantage of grants from the Department of Justice that would supplement the salaries of police officers. “We’ve got to keep working toward taking action and not just developing plans,” he said.
