Jackson crime drops more than 25 percent in 2017 - Northside Sun

Crime on the Northside fell by more than 25 percent between 2016 and 2017, according to stats provided by the Jackson Police Department (JPD).

Total property crimes dropped by 25.6 percent year over year, while total violent crimes fell by 31.3 percent, according to the last comstat report released by the department in December.

Precinct Four Cmdr. Keith Freeman credits the precinct’s success to “hard work.”

“It’s these officers out here day in and day out doing their jobs,” he said.

Freeman also credits officers’ willingness to share and follow up on information about potential suspects. “I received information - pictures of two suspects that broke into a home and stole a car. I put it out that morning and by the evening (officers on the evening shift) recognized them, told me who they were and made the arrests,” Freeman said.

The commander also points to the department’s partnership with federal agencies.

In recent years, JPD has been working alongside the U.S. Attorney’s office to get the “worst of the worst” criminals off the streets. The effort began under previous U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Gregory Davis and is being ramped up by new Southern District Attorney Mike Hurst.

Auto burglaries, auto thefts, business burglaries and grand larcenies dropped by 25 percent or more, while house burglaries fell by 8.6 percent. Among violent crimes, Precinct Four recorded at least a 26 percent decrease in aggravated assaults, armed robberies, carjackings and homicides, while seeing an 11.8 percent increase in cases of rape.

Despite being down significantly, auto and house break-ins continued to be the most common crime on the Northside. Last year, 500 cars, trucks and SUVs were broken into, compared to 665 the year before, while 330 homes were burglarized, down from 361 the year before.

Figures show a 24.8 percent and 8.6 percent decrease respectively.

Auto thefts, which occur when vehicles are stolen, fell 29.6 percent, with 171 being reported last year, down from 243 in 2016. Business burglaries fell from 133 in 2016 to 95 in 2017, and cases of grand larceny fell from 183 to 83, reports show.

Grand larcenies are cases where the theft of items or cash values $1,000 or more.

Officers also made significant reductions in violent crimes. Last year, 77 aggravated assaults were reported, down from 104 in 2016; armed robberies fell from 141 to 65; carjackings decreased from 24 to 16 and homicides fell from five to three.

Cases of rape grew by two, from 17 in 2016 to 19 last year.

Precinct Four runs from East County Line Road in the north to Fortification Street in the south. To the west it is bordered by the railroad tracks along North State Street and the Pearl River to the east.

Crime across the capital city fell in 2017, with 5,730 major crimes being reported, 1,020 fewer than the 6,750 that occurred the year before.

The decreases comes even as JPD struggles to maintain its ranks.

JPD ended the year with about 359 sworn officers, down from 382 last summer, and down still from the 440 the department had at the end of fiscal year 2016.

Precinct Four has around 56 sworn officers, down from more than 70 when in 2015.

Part of the recruitment and retention problem has been blamed on JPD pay. Starting pay for sworn officers is $25,900 a year during training. After six months, pay is raised to $26,375; and after a year, salaries are increased to around $31,000.

In Mobile, officers earn $31,679 out of the academy, and $36,679 after six months; Shreveport officers earn $33,000 in the first year; and Birmingham officers with a high school diploma or equivalency earn $37,230 a year, according to each city’s Web site. Little Rock officers earn $40,821 during the academy and first year on the job.

Also contributing to officer recruitment was Jackson’s residency requirement ordinance, which required new hires to move into the capital city within six months of being hired.

The council recently repealed that ordinance for the police and Jackson Fire Department.

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