'Crime albatross': How Jackson and Mississippi are addressing homicide rates
Murder rates are down in the Jackson area in 2023, but law enforcement officials continue to say homicides are way too high and remain a focal point of agency duties.
More than 107 people have been killed in Jackson this year, according to compiled reports from four law enforcement agencies operating within the city limits: Jackson Police Department, Jackson State University Department of Public Safety, the Capitol Police and the Hinds County Sheriff's Office.
None of the four law enforcement agencies in Jackson reported their homicide numbers to the 2022 FBI Crime in the Nation report this year.
The FBI report is typically the most comprehensive snapshot of crime in the United States down to county level law enforcement agencies. But only 60% of participating law enforcement agencies in Mississippi were accounted for in the 2022 FBI report.
Below is a look into each department's homicide numbers.
Jackson Police Department
As of Nov. 10, JPD had 98 homicides, according to Jackson Police Department Chief Joseph Wade. Around this same time last year, JPD was working 119 homicide cases.
Wade said while the numbers are moving on a downward trajectory compared to the previous year, he is not proud of the high count.
“That is something that I do not hang my hat on,” Wade said. “We are going to fix this.”
Despite the agency's previous participation in the annual report, JPD did not participate in the 2022 FBI report.
Sam Brown, public information officer for the Jackson Police Department, said the agency was in the process of “restructuring our software system.”
He said they did not have the software completely implemented. Therefore, JPD did not want to report an inaccurate count to the FBI.
Brown said if the 2023 report comes around in the next five to six months, then JPD has a high chance of submitting its updated numbers.
JPD's numbers from 2020 to 2022 made headlines in the city and the nation.
In 2020, Jackson reached a then record-breaking 128 homicides, according to records obtained by the Clarion Ledger.
The city then saw 155 homicides in 2021 with the highest per capita murder rate in the nation of about 100 deaths per 100,000 people.
In 2022, the city had around 135 homicide deaths.
"I had a mother sit here (recently) who lost her daughter; she will never get over that. Never," Wade said. "So, we're going to attack, and we're no longer going to sit back and allow this stuff to happen. We're going to get right in the middle of it. That's the plan."
Wade said a reduction of murder rates in the city will come once the ranks of the Jackson police force is rebuilt, considering it has been "depleted as far as manpower."
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Prior to June 1, JPD had 221 police officers staffed, according to Wade. The JPD staff currently sits at 255 as of Nov. 10.
A fully staffed department for JPD initially was 300, but in order to increase officers' salaries from $45,000 to $48,000, the agency's maximum staff limit dropped to 275.
With more staff, Wade said he will be placing officers in "hotspots" or high-crime areas next month to "apprehend individuals who pillage our city."
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Wade said he has also talked with law enforcement agencies from the local to the federal level such as the Jackson FBI, Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Those agencies and others have allowed Wade to think of strategic approaches to apply in the near future, switching the department from "reactive to proactive."
Even with the partnerships JPD is forming with different agencies, Wade said another way to reduce crime is by engaging with the community to get them working alongside the department.
Wade said he implemented a new program named Community Engagement Unit, that used to be called Crime Prevention Unit. The revamped program is a four-prong approach to engage the community with officers: community groups and organizations, businesses, faith-based and youth.
"We will all work together to eradicate the city of this crime albatross that is hanging over our heads," Wade said. "And we will see some significant drops in violent crime in the City of Jackson over the next year."
Jackson State University Department of Public Safety
In recent months some high-profile murders have occurred in Jackson, including two that occurred on the Jackson State University campus.
On Oct. 15, 2023, Jaylen Burns, a 21-year-old Jackson State University industrial technology major, was fatally shot on the west side of campus. His father said Jaylen was shot while attempting to break up a fight. The alleged suspects held in connection to the case were released on Nov. 10 and Nov. 13.
On Dec. 2, 2022, Flynn Brown, another JSU student, was found shot to death in a car parked in a parking lot on the JSU campus.
Due to JSU not providing the data before press time, it is unknown whether there are more homicides outside of those two known slayings.
No comment was provided in regard to why the JSU department did not participate in the report.
Capitol Police
Capitol Police reported seven homicides for 2023 and three homicides for 2022.
Capitol Police spokesperson Bailey Martin said that prior to the department coming under the Mississippi Department of Public Safety and the Capitol Complex Improvement District (CCID) being created, Capitol Police provided security for state buildings and employees.
Thus, the the department has no homicide statistics recorded before 2022.
In response to being asked why the agency didn't participate in the 2022 FBI report, Martin provided a statement on behalf of the department: “Capitol Police, like many other departments across the state, are working towards NIBRS (the system the FBI uses to track crime) compliance in order to be able to submit their statistics.”
Hinds County Sheriff Department
Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones said the Hinds County Sheriff's Office has not worked any homicides in Jackson proper in 2023.
Sheriff's departments often do not investigate homicides cases in cities with local policing agencies, and Jackson has three — JPD, JSU and the Capitol Police.
Jones said he looks forward to participating in the FBI process in the future but was not set up to do so at the last FBI study.
"The Hinds County Sheriff's Office is still trying to get online and get qualified for the system," Jones said.
Law enforcement can't do it alone
Recently, Mississippi was deemed as one of the most dangerous states to live in, according to a 2023 Hubscore report.
The Hubscore report ranked Mississippi as the sixth most dangerous state in the nation.
Five of the 10 most dangerous states in the nation are in the South. No Southern state is in the top 10 for being the least dangerous state.
The ranking was based on various factors — including crime rates, firearms, personal and social welfare and transportation safety — to determine the safety environment.
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According to Hubscore's data, the state also ranked first as the most dangerous state for firearms and violence. Hubscore states that specific ranking was primarily driven by a rise in gun deaths, gun injuries and mass shootings.
The most recent data from the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention showed Mississippi reported 962 gun-related deaths in 2021, which was 144 deaths more than in 2020.
Mississippi’s Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said to get the numbers moving downward at a state level, law enforcement cannot solve the problem alone.
Tindell said police officers and community leaders will have to work together to discuss the community’s areas of concerns to best target what people are in need of.
But in order for law enforcement officers to successfully engage with their community, police departments have to adequately staff their agency and pay officers “a salary they can build a career upon,” Tindell said.
According to Indeed and GovSalaries, police officers in Mississippi on average make roughly $43,000 a year.
“If you have a law enforcement agency that is fully staffed, then that's certainly a deterrent to crime. The officers also do a better job of investigating a crime quickly and holding those that commit those crimes accountable,” Tindell said. "If there's no accountability to the criminal element, they're just going to keep committing those crimes."
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Tindell said with most crimes committed, there are socioeconomic factors such as poverty and mental illness that need to be addressed by improving “cross-agency communication and intel.”
He said connecting law enforcement with experts in fields such as Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services or narcotics agents could help officers recognize the warning signs in a suspect.
"I don't think it's fair to put it all on the back of law enforcement …" Tindell said. "We need to bring in other experts who are better suited for the issue at hand to address the situation and not just work in our own silos."
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson, MS murder rates for 2023 down over 2022
