Property Issues
After introductions, Bob Oertel reported on the various properties needing our attention.

• 3622 Cavalier- no work seems to have been done recently. The owner's truck is often there during the day but gone at night. There are rumors he has gotten married recently.
• Howard Gober was scheduled to be arrested on December 1.
• Jackson's Quality of Life Division will be providing packets of information for each precinct soon.
• A house of Melbourne that burned after Katrina has not been cleaned up.
• The building behind the Conoco station is getting some paint.
• A vacant house on Redwing, believed to be owned by Alan French, needs painting.
• The "Dead End" sign at the start of Eagle is hard to see. Bruce Thames promised to get his division to correct this.

COMSTAT
Precinct 4 Commander Brent Winstead delivered the COMSTAT report.

• He noted there has been a decrease in crime in Precinct 4 in each of the past several weeks.
• Four juveniles who confessed to over 30 auto burglaries will be staying in the training school for a long time.
• Because of the holiday season, Operation Safe Shop is underway.
• The Christmas lunch for Precinct 4 will be on December 14. There have been a good number of donations to provide this meal.
• Knowing many citizens are concerned by the recent rash of murders, Commander Winstead noted that all suspects in these murders have been arrest. There were no murders in Precinct 4. Commander Winstead, drawing on his seven years in homicide, affirmed that murder is a "people problem" in that most are crimes of passion where those involved cannot deal with their stress and anger. All of those involved in the recent murders were from the Jackson area and were not refugees from Katrina.
• When asked about having "The Clarion-Ledger" print the COMSTAT reports again, Commander Winstead indicated he understands they will be provided quarterly soon. He thanked "The Northside Sun" for their attention to police matters. Several others echoed his remarks, expressing gratitude in particular to Kimbler Bryant.
• Commander Winstead gave his e-mail address so that he can be contacted: bwinstead@city.jackson.ms.us.
• Regarding truancy, there are two issues here. First, children who are not in school during school hours. They are taken either to school or to the detention center. Second, children violating the curfew. Truancy is a big problem in Jackson.

Bob Oertel requested time off from coordinating our COPS meetings. Fulton and Linda Thompson were asked to serve as coordinators. Please give them your full support. Go Team!
In response to a request to identify specific goals, the group listed the following areas of interest:

• Publicity and media relations
• Provide a brochure for residents of Precinct 4
• Demolish the houses between Lamar and Blair on Fortification behind the ones that were torn down recently
• Work with the Jackson Association of Neighborhoods to provide an e-mail base for good communications within and between residents and leaders of the four precincts. Related to this is the desire to have quarterly meetings of leaders from all four precincts
• Continue to have high quality speakers at our meetings
• Re-start the e-mail alerts with up-to-the-minute news
• Education of citizens
• Have wider participation from throughout Precinct 4
• Compare crime statistics from previous years
• Chief Anderson indicated JPD is working on some public service announcements that will help citizens understand what the police do and how they work.

After discussion, it was agreed we will meet at 5:30 on the 4th Thursday of each month. So the next meeting will be on January 26, 2006, at 5:30 in the Precinct 4 Headquarters.
Our guest speaker was Jackie Smith, Director of Safe City, previously known as The Save City Initiative. Their web site is being improved but you can still view it at www.thesafecity.com.

Ms. Smith began by giving a brief history of her organization. It began in 1994 as the Metropolitan Crime Commission and was formed by citizens, some of whom are Wirt Yerger, Chip Bowman, and others. Wayne Taylor, Jim Frier, and Don Sullivan were some of the folks that served as the group's first directors. In 2004, the name was changed to the Safe City Initiative. It aims to provide assistance and accountability for the criminal justice system. It has four specific areas of particular concern:

1. Effective law enforcement.
2. A good database and one uniform communication system that will allow all law enforcement agencies in the state to access the information quickly.
3. Effective courts and prosecutors including finding way to reduce the backlog of old cases.
4. An effective correctional system and capacity issues in our jails and prisons.

She noted that Safe City is the only private-sector group on the committee/commission charged with providing the uniform communication system for law enforcement in the state.

Further, she noted changes that provide for the appointment of special judges to go where the need is greatest.

She commended the Chief Justice of the MS Supreme Court for his assistance in this issue.

As of November 16, information on all 27,000 parolees in Mississippi is available to all law enforcement officials.

Safe City is also working on a "customer service" satisfaction survey form for use by JPD. They are half-way to their goal of raising $50,000 for this. Such forms would give citizens a chance to respond. It was noted that supervisors, the chief, and internal affairs deal with complaints already. The experience of the Police Department in Little Rock, Arkansas, supports the idea of having such a survey conducted by an outside group instead of by the police. Chief Anderson is in favor of this survey. It was noted the quality of the questions asked is crucial.

Safe City would like to provide rewards for exceptional service for 3-5 officers every quarter. Paid trips, gift certificates to area restaurants, and even cash gifts are under consideration. The legality of such rewards is being investigated.

Safe City is particularly concerned about property crimes since juveniles often begin with property crimes. If they can be stopped early there is a better chance of them turning their lives around and avoiding a life of crime.

A partial list of ways to measure success were noted before it was time to adjourn.

Bob Oertel announced he is close to having a website for us and we will have a presentation on crime prevention at our next meeting. City Council President Marshand Crisler will help coordinate this presentation.

The next meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 26, 2006.