The Precinct 4 Community Oriented Policing & Government group (COPS) met at the Precinct 4 Headquarters on Thursday, September 28, 2006. Bob Oertel called the meeting to order at 5:30 and led us through introductions.

Environmental Court and Community Improvement
It was announced that Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Anderson no longer works for the City of Jackson. This brought sincere regret to the group as we discussed our appreciation for his years of service. He will be replaced by Larry Lindsey (llindsey@city.jackson.ms.us). We look forward to working with Mr. Lindsey.

Residents reported on several properties:
-409 Mitchell Ave. was broken into.
-Downing at Mitchell Ave.- vacant house with an open front door.
-1001 Cedar Hill- vacant house with damage to structure. The roof is caving in and rats abound.

Jerome Anderson, Community Improvement Supervisor (1 of 3) brought us up to date on several cases before Environmental Court.
-306 Melbourne- a burned structure. The outside has been repaired and the yard cleaned. The owner is working on the interior and was given 30 more days to complete the work.
-332 Melbourne- the yard and trees have been cleared. A fence line remains.
-228 Melbourne- work is incomplete but ongoing.
-220 Melbourne- has been painted and repaired. The case is resolved.

Other properties or cases reported were:
-Kent Park at Kent Circle- no description given.
-Mitchell- none of these came up in Environmental Court.
-Crownpointe- the owner was found guilty in absentia but didn't show. The owner has an October 4 date in a higher court.
-3622 Cavalier- John McKee has done some work but the only report was that the backside shows no improvement.
-1724-1725 St. Mary- Howard Gober has been arrested once but there has been no improvement to the property.
-1701 Sheffield has been improved on the outside but the yard is marginal.
-3422 North State Street- has been abandoned.

Follow-up will take place at the next meeting.

If you are interested in attending Environmental Court, it is suggested that you call court services before heading downtown, 601.960.2050.

Environmental Court meets at 2:00 at 215 W. Pearl Street on the following Thursdays:

• November 16
• December 14

Communication with the Chief
Bob Oertel reported on a recent phone call with Chief Anderson. They discussed items including more citizens' police academies, jail overcrowding, and having point people available at COPS meetings to follow issues and to provide accountability with that follow-up. Also, Jimmy Bell is to work as a facilitator in getting JPD, citizens, and department heads to work together.

Crime Summit
Belmont Trapp reported on the Crime Summit that took place in August. After an opening, those in attendance broke into focus groups: Neighborhood Associations, Community-based Organizations, Judges and Courts, Education, Churches, and Civic Groups. Belmont met with the Neighborhood Associations group. They met two weeks later to brainstorm. There was consensus in this group was to approve a noise ordinance. Louwlynn Williams was able to speak at the City Council work session. Belmont was able to speak at the Council meeting but it was the day there was a demonstration supporting the Mayor so it was not a day to focus on other business. Regarding the noise ordinance, the City has been sued for $50,000 and the Supreme Court of Mississippi has indicated a right for citizens to make noise, suggesting that a noise ordinance will be a tough sell.

This led to an interesting and prolonged discussion of how to deal with loud and obnoxious noises. Commander Sansom reminded us that the peace of a law enforcement officer cannot be disturbed. However, those who sign an affidavit for "disturbing the peace" will get results. During the day, you can come to Precinct 4 to get a clerk to swear you in for the affidavit. After 4:00, you have to go downtown or luck into finding Commander Sansom.

Loud music, fights, and rowdy behavior was reported as a frequent occurrence after hours in the parking lot of Mikhail's Northgate Restaurant. If JPD sees a fight going on, they can intervene - it is a misdemeanor. JPD can ask those there to turn down their music but cannot enforce it unless someone signs an affidavit. The owner of private property can accuse people of trespassing but business owners are reluctant to do so.

COMSTAT & Ask The Commander
Commander Steve Sansom reported that the past several weeks (September 10-28) have been fairly calm. There were a number of events including auto burglaries and stolen cars at the Stadium last weekend.

One resident thanked Commander Sansom for an extremely quick response to a call for help. Officers arrived within two minutes.

In another case, a polite robber grabbed his female victim's coffee cup to keep it from crashing to the floor. Finger prints were found on the cup.

A resident of Eastover spoke of a mini-crime spree by cars full of teenagers in her neighborhood which caused her $5,000 in damage. A new car was dented by paintballs, a mailbox and several street signs were stolen, and windows were broken. 4 JPD cars responded. Several high school students were caught and their parents called.

In another incident, the resident got a license tag and the youth was made to work to repair the damage.

Chief Anderson (who was present for the entire meeting) noted that since the City of Jackson does not have a jail, those arrested on misdemeanor charges seldom face any time in jail. If their fines are set up on a pay plan and they don't pay, officers have to find them and arrest them. They are fined again and don't pay. It is a vicious cycle. She suggested that her proposal is that the City of Jackson builds a work camp facility with 100-150 beds for those who aren't students or hold jobs so they can work off their fines instead of having them increased. She cited the example of a woman who has $6,000 in fines. Since she couldn't pay the fine when it was $500, why does anyone think she can pay the higher number? It takes the police officers away from other duties to have to arrest and re-arrest such people with no gain for society. Why not make those with fines above $250 work it off unless they have jobs or are student. In those cases, they can be allowed to work their time off on weekends. There are only 596 beds in Hinds County but they stay filled so criminals have to be released to make room for the newest batch.

Other things that would be nice would be to have a night court judge and an improved way for dealing with federal prisoners in re-entry programs.

Chief Anderson has met with Ron Welch, the Justice Department criminal rights watchdog. She is delighted he is in on the ground floor in discussing a work camp. Currently there is no fear factor at work in misdemeanor crimes. Gangs of youth (not youth gangs!) use cell phones to warn each other of the location of police or private security officers.

One very accomplished and successful resident from Jackson who grew up in Precinct 4 confessed that he was one of these youthful offenders when he was a teenager. He got caught and that ended his life of high crimes and misdemeanors. His opinion was that it works to humiliate kids by making them work off their punishment.

This is an idea that some felt needed support. We do need to keep an eye on the effectiveness of our judges. Currently many judges are up for re-election, including Judge Henry Clay of Environmental Court. In other judicial news, it was reported there have been only nine trials for property crimes in three years. An observer recently noted that one court with five judges was frequently closed and only one trial was held in a two-week period. The organization Safe City is seeking volunteers for court watches. Safe City's legislative agenda is to establish a property crimes court and conform to the federal standard of a 270-day mandate.

A resident showed a copy of the September 28 Wall Street Journal in which a "Hug a Thug" program in High Point, North Carolina, was described. Many are saying that this strategy is working extremely well. See a portion of the article below.

Announcements

• Next Meeting
  Our next meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. on the fourth Thursday, October 26, 2006. Jimmy Bell, criminologist at Jackson State University and the one who ran the Crime Summit, will be our guest. We will discuss our specific needs in P 4 COPS such as task forces for legislative liaison, beautification, outreach, and zoning enforcement.
• GSRCPI
  The Gulf States Regional Center for Public Safety Innovations is offering many training programs.
  Please use the following link to view courses in areas as varied as "Terrorism Awareness in Schools", "Developing Relations in Diverse Populations", and the "Gang and Street Violence Regional Summit".
  https://aceweb.nsula.edu/wconnect/wc.dll?acecode~showcalendar

The meeting adjourned at 6:30.

'Hug-A-Thug' Model Wins Praise For Getting Dealers Off The Street
North Carolina | Community & Economic Development | Social & Demographics
Thu, 2006-09-28 15:00
Source: Wall Street Journal, Sep 27, 2006

An initiative by the High Point, North Carolina police department has shown results in cleaning up a drug-riddled neighborhood by using "soft" pressure from families and community members to change behaviors.
"For over three months, police investigated more than 20 dealers operating in (High Point)'s West End neighborhood, where crack cocaine was openly sold on the street and in houses. Police made dozens of undercover buys and videotaped many other drug purchases."
"They also did something unusual: they determined the 'influentials' in the dealers' lives -- mothers, grandmothers, mentors -- and cultivated relationships with them. When police felt they had amassed ironclad legal cases, they did something even more striking: they refrained from arresting most of the suspected dealers."
"In a counterintuitive approach, police here are trying to shut down entire drug markets, in part by giving nonviolent suspected drug dealers a second chance. Their strategy combines the 'soft' pressure from families and community with the 'hard' threat of aggressive, ready-to-go criminal cases. While critics say the strategy is too lenient, it has met with early success and is being tried by other communities afflicted with overt drug markets and the violence they breed."
"Police in neighboring Winston-Salem, N.C., as well as Newburgh, N.Y., have deployed the strategy with success, and word is spreading. Encouraged by the National Urban League, which wants to see the approach replicated nationwide, police departments in Tucson, Ariz., Providence, R.I., Kansas City, Mo., and elsewhere are gearing up to try it."

Source: Wall Street Journal, Sep 27, 2006