Two Jackson City Council members consider the Action Plan for Decreasing Violent Crimes in the city of Jackson that Jackson Police Chief James E. Davis submitted to city leaders as a starting point but they would like more details about how to make it happen.
Jackson, like many other cities in the nation, faces the dilemma of how to curtail violent crimes, especially since Jackson Police Department (JPD) is understaffed and the coronavirus pandemic is thought to have contributed to the uptick in violence.
Davis’s plan lists these objectives and strategies:
• “Implement a data-driven approach to address violent crimes — analyze violent crime stats to establish realistic benchmarks for crime reduction by Ward; coordinate intelligence through the JPD Major Investigation Division; continue existing, successful operations that have resulted in arrests, seized weapons and drugs; and offer high visibility throughout the city of Jackson.
• “Increase clearance rates and solvability of violent crimes — expand second-, third- and fourth-layer leaders’ responsibilities; increase critical incident response; deploy extra patrol in ‘hot spots;’ and work with local, state and federal partners.
• “Improve coordination and communication — improve internal communication throughout the ranks; enhance external community with the public and city council; continue, leverage and build community partnerships within each Ward; and increase police presence within neighborhoods, convenience stores, businesses, churches, schools, Homeowner Associations and Ward meetings.
• “Optimize department resources, technology, personnel and operations — continue maximum usage of the Real Time Command Center; work with Tyler Technologies to develop criminal activity dashboard for key personnel; continue training for all JPD officers; continue to aggressively recruit candidates to the Police Academy to fill the 52 remaining vacancies; continue to aggressively recruit experienced officers; increase the opportunities for promotion; increase use and services of social workers under JPD in domestic violence cases.”
City Council member Virgi Lindsay, who represents Ward 7, calls the plan a first step, but she would like to details about what it would cost to implement it. She hoped to learn more during a March 22 meeting of the council’s law enforcement ad hoc committee.
“My thought is that it’s still a work in progress,” she said.
City Council member Ashby Foote, who represents Ward 1, said the current plan is better than what the chief initially presented but he, too, wants more details.
A plan to decrease violence needs to focus more on beefing up JPD with experienced, certified law enforcement officers, who can serve as detectives since JPD is understaffed in that area, Foote said.
“The police academy is a good part of the solution but not the whole solution,” he said. “We’ve got make a concerted effort to hire more experienced officers for those we’ve lost.”
JPD is down about 100 officers and needs to recruit those from other law enforcement agencies and from retired officers who would like to return to work, he said.
The estimated cost to hire an additional 25 officers is $1.3 million, Foote said. To hire an additional 50 officers would cost an estimated $2.6 million, he said.
The total cost to hire a new sworn officer is $42,771.33, which includes salary, overtime while in training, insurance and benefits, Foote said.
That breaks down to $10, 300 for a uniform, which includes an officer’s radio, a taser, body-worn camera, laptop, a gun, belt, badge, vest, handcuffs, nametag and JPD insignia; $31,659.72, salary; $3,500, overtime while in training; $948, insurance; and $6, 627.61 for fringe benefits.
Foote has suggested that JPD apply for a grant from the COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) Hiring Program to help pay for additional officers. He said he has submitted information about the program to Davis and the JPD grant writer but no grant application has been submitted.
The program could provide up to 75 percent of the approved entry-level salaries and fringe benefits of full-time officers for a 36-month award period, Foote said. The maximum federal share is $125,000 per office position and a minimum of a 25 percent local cash match is required, he said.
In fiscal year 2020, nearly $400 million in the COPS Hiring Program funding was available to hire new or rehire existing career law enforcement officers.
“We’ve got to turn in hard requests for grant money so we can hire experienced officers,” Foote said.
Last year, the City Council made the decision to raise the pay for JPD recruits and their starting salary from $26,000 to $30,000, a move necessary to improve morale in the department and make it easier to hire new officers.
“We were at a disadvantage because all of the surrounding communities were paying not much more than us but enough so that was difficult for us to retain police officers,” Lindsay said. “Now we’re at least competitive.”
The chief’s plan also included these special requests:
• “Due to the current jail situation, the city of Jackson needs its own jail to house misdemeanor and felony offenders.”
Foote referred to this request as “pie in the sky.”
Lindsay said she asked for the city’s legal department to describe the liabilities with having a jail and would like to know the costs.
• “Due to the increase in violent crime on the property of convenience stores, JPD requests that the City Council update and revise City Ordinances that govern these stores with the hope that this will make them safer for our citizens. The same request is being made for hotels/motels within the city limits.”
• “Due to the increase in calls associated with individuals that may be dealing with a mental health episode/crisis, JPD requests the creation of city-funded positions for Mental Health Response Specialists to support JPD in responding to calls involving citizens that may be dealing with a mental health episode/crisis.”
• “To address the increasing homeless population in each Ward, JPD requests the creation of city-funded positions for Homeless Population Liaisons to assist with the homeless.”
• “In order to be competitive with and comparable to the salaries in neighboring cities and other cities with demographics similar to the city of Jackson, JPD requests salary increases for all JPD officers.”
• “In order to maintain current technology operations, JPD requests additional funding to purchase additional technology for all JPD officers, patrol cars and the RTCC (Real Time Command Center).”
Foote said he doesn’t see any near-term resolution to Jackson’s crime problem. “Not that you can solve it in 90 days but you’ve got to make an aggressive effort when you’re facing a crime epidemic,” he said.
Because of an increase in violent crime, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba issued on Feb. 3 a curfew for minors 18 and younger that remains in place.
The curfew was put into place because of an increase in crimes against children. In January, the city experienced 13 homicides involving 11 firearms and the death of two minor children; eight aggravated assaults with two minor children arrested in connection; and 52 aggravated assaults involving 46 firearms.
Foote believes fighting crime should be the city’s top priority – even ahead of its infrastructure needs that the recent winter storm has highlighted.
Lumumba said earlier this year that JPD can’t control all crimes.
“When you see the number of domestic circumstances, the number of situations taking place in the home, these are circumstances that honestly have very little to do with JPD,” he said. “JPD won’t be there when the family has a feud and, and the husband decides to kill the wife; there’s never been a circumstance where that happens.”
Lumumba said there have been five times as many police recruit classes than during the previous administration. He also cited improvement such as new SUVs for some officers, laptops in patrol cars so officers can answer calls more efficiently and license plate readers that make it easier to address crimes related to stolen vehicles and body cameras.
The Real Time Command Center on Riverside Drive that boasts access to more than 600 cameras as part of a surveillance network that can assist the police department is also an advancement, Lumumba said.
