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

Reports
Susan Lunardini of the Jackson Police Foundation reported on her investigation into decibel meters for use by JPD for noise ordinance violations. The top model used by a lot of excellent police departments, including Seattle, WA, whose noise ordinance served as the model for Jackson’s ordinance, is very expensive at $2,000 each. It is widely considered to be the top model, however. It comes with a calibration unit so it can be calibrated before and after each reading. It is guaranteed to have a + 2% variance. The meter and calibration unit have to be returned to the factory once a year at a cost of $200. The factory representative is loaning one to JPD for a 10-day trial. It this unit is approved by JPD, private funding will be sought to purchase a unit for each precinct.

Environmental Court Issues
Those in attendance had a lengthy discussion about the on-going case of Howard Gober of St. Mary Street. The condition of his property defies description. The community’s responsibility to provide adequate care for someone unable to care for himself was one of the main topics of discussion. No clear answer emerged since every silver lining has a cloud, to mangle the old saying.

The property issue remains vexing. There is an existing demolition order from the city but the use of federal funds to pay for it was denied since the Department of Archives and History would not approve the demolition in Belhaven because of its historic district designation. It would cost $15,000 for demolition. The shame is there are many people who would be more than willing to buy the property and fix it up.

Securitas, Wackenhutt, and JPD
A concern about a very long response time to a house burglary in Belhaven in which Securitas apprehended someone but had to let him go led to a long discussion about private security companies and their relationship with JPD. One of the issues pertains to the call-takers. They are not under JPD control. But that is going to change. Former Precinct 4 Commander Brent Winstead has finished his Homeland Security training in Washington, DC, and has returned to Jackson. Among his various duties, he will be in charge of communications.

Noting that the average response time after a call is received is 3-5 minutes, Commander Sansom told of a recent situation in which an alarm went off at 3:55 a.m. The alarm company did not call JPD until 4:20 a.m. The JPD officer arrived on-site at 4:23 a.m., well after the intruder was gone.

Another issue pertains to jail conditions. JPD arrested one suspect two times for robbing a business that had three robberies in one week. The arrested suspect lives in Belhaven, has a 17-page rap sheet, and could be responsible for a host of other unsolved crimes. But there was no room in the jail so he was released both times.

Comparing Wackenhutt and Securitas was the theme of part of the discussion. Securitas has had little one-on-one contact with JPD whereas Wackenhutt called JPD frequently to report suspicious activities or conditions. Part of the difference has to do with the nature of the contracts with clients. It was noted that Wackenhutt has a decidedly military/police approach in that it is run by former military and/or police officers and all agents in tan uniforms have military and/or police experience. Wackenhutt provides security for all U.S. prisons in Europe, all U.S. nuclear facilities, and all north Atlantic oil platforms. They even have their own SWAT teams. A former JPD officer is now in charge of Securitas in Jackson, however. It was suggested we need to express our concerns to Securitas and invite them to meet with us. It was also noted that Securitas does seem to provide better customer relations and personal attention.

The discussion of private security companies led to a question about the Police Corps, a program in which federal funds are used to train and pay police recruits for three years with the agreement that they will be hired by the Police Department at the end of that time. Funding for this program has been cut by the current President, however.

A major problem in Jackson is the pay and benefits offered. Recent pay raises have amounted to only pennies a week. Someone who started with JPD in 1980 would need an 80% pay raise just to keep up with inflations since 1980. Retirement benefits offered are 70% of pay after 33 years of service while the national average is 80% of pay after 20 years of service. Medical benefits offered by JPD are very poor. As a result, JPD trains a lot of police who then move quickly to other states for far better pay and benefits. For instance, Precinct 4 had 75 officers last year but only 48 this year.

Crime Summit
Belmont Trapp reported on the Crime Summit meetings. She noted a tremendous amount of energy at these meetings. She urged more of us to attend. They have been scheduled to conflict with Precinct 4 COPS meetings some months, unfortunately. The Crime Summit meets on the last Thursday of every month. Some months that conflicts with our 4th Thursday meetings. We will address this issue at a later date.

COMSTAT & Ask Commander Sansom
Commander Sansom reported a fairly quiet week. Several members of COPS inquired about making COMSTAT statistics available to the public and report them so a particular week of the current year can be compared to the same week in the previous year(s).

One problem with COMSTAT reports is that it deals with the crimes reported, not what the crimes are found to be upon investigation. For instance, a car jacking was reported by a man recently. Upon investigation, it was discovered he had secured the services of a prostitute but refused to pay for services rendered. She took his car to make him pay her. He reported it as a car jacking. In other words, the crime reported (which shows up on COMSTAT) is not the real crime. In this regard, a recent article in the Clarion-Ledger claimed to report COMSTAT figures. But the COMSTAT figures the article claims to have used had not been compiled when the article was published.

The feeling of many in Precinct 4 COPS is that the City of Jackson should make the raw data available anyway to show openness and to avoid misinformation. The problem is, COMSTAT reports are full of misinformation since they report what was reported and not what actually took place. So the beat goes on. There is a lot of politics involved in this, unfortunately.

Citizens Review Board
There is a lot of attention being given to having a Citizens Review Board for JPD. While being promoted by some high profile people such as Dr. Jimmy Bell of Jackson State University and the ACLU, police departments tend to be very suspicious of such boards. First, police departments already undergo several layers of review by law enforcement personnel. Second, such boards often become “police-bashing” organizations. It was noted the ACLU has targeted Jackson for special development in coming months.

Meeting of Interest to COPS
January 9- the next meeting of the Neighborhood Associations in the Hood Building downtown. Contact Belmont Trapp for more information.

Next Meeting
Our next meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. on the fourth Thursday, January 25, 2007.
We will discuss our specific needs in P 4 COPS in five categories: Legislation, Crime Prevention, Beautification, Code Enforcement, and Outreach. Susan Lunardini will invite someone from Human Services to discuss how we can help Howard Gober. Bob Oertel asked each person to spend at least 30 minutes over the next month thinking specificially about what we can do and should be doing as the Precinct 4 COPS.

After noting the dumping of homeless persons by Vicksburg police and Whitfield Hospital and after mention of an article about the dramatic decline in crime and people in jails in New York City, some very good news was reported. There are $2 billion worth of projects underway in Jackson with more on the horizon.