Jackson Jambalaya

See Comments at end of post.

How prescient this blog can be (especially after consuming massive quantities of melange). Yesterday I posted about JPD's failure to protect Belhaven from a local punk, http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/10/have-you-met-jason-no-rest-assured-half.html, and then The Clarion-Ledger publishes a story about the frustration crime victims experience when dealing with JPD. Today the newspaper reported a follow-up story after it was inundated with complaints from crime victims: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071004/NEWS/710040375/1001/news.

Some of my favorite passages (sarcasm fully intended):
The only contact I've had (with Jackson police) was from the responding officer who took the initial report, and that was on the 10th," Tate, 49, said. "I understand they have a heavy caseload and they're busy, but at the same time, I am taking steps to at least find out the status of my vehicle."
On Sept. 28, Tate's insurance company notified him his car had been recovered by JPD a few days earlier. Tate began calling the detective assigned to his case but has not received a return phone call. Tate also called the police impound lot but was told paperwork had not been turned in that would allow the officer to locate his vehicle. He still has not been able to look at his car.
Police Chief Shirlene Anderson said people may not get results right away from the impound lot because it is inundated with phone calls."
Good job Shirlene. Innocent people have their cars stolen, their cars are recovered, and yet you can only say tough luck, you don't know when they can get their cars back. I forgot, you are the government and we exist to serve you, not the other way around.

My favorite: "Mayor Frank Melton said he is aware of the myriad complaints and plans to make changes to the Police Department today. He would not say what those changes will be." How many times have I heard Melton say he had a plan, was going to make a change, etc. and yet has offered no specifics and later we find out little, if anything happened? Remember the video cameras? Maybe if Melton would hire a real police chief and quit trying to micromanage the JPD or worrying about how to keep Michael Taylor out of jail, Jacksonians would not be complaining as much about the JPD.

Here's a goodie: "Clarke, 50, said she had trouble getting JPD to return her calls and ended up doing her own investigating. She contacted her credit card company, which told her where and when the charges were made on her cards.
"I had to call the police chief's office to get the detective to return my call. He called me back immediately and reprimanded me and told me not to go above him," she said.
Clarke said when she told the detective what she had learned, the detective told her he had no interest in interviewing the gas stations' clerks or checking to see if the businesses had caught the thieves on surveillance tape. Her truck was recovered three weeks after it was stolen, but so far, no one has been charged with the crime, she said.
"I just decided not to deal with them anymore. I just left it at that because it was just obvious they weren't going to do anything," Clarke said. "It was just like they were victimizing me again."
JPD does not return phone calls to someone who has been robbed and seen her life turned upside down. She calls the police chief's office and gets chewed out by the detective. Hey Jackass, if you pulled that crap in the private sector you would be FIRED!!! You wouldn't have some union and the EEOC protecting your sorry ass. You would be told by your boss, which Shirlene should've done (but everyone else ignores her, why shouldn't you), to call the customer back, apologize, and be very nice and resolve the problem. I'll give you a clue, keep your police job because you will not make it in the private sector.

Finally, there is this gem:
Harvey and Sid Collins, brothers who own a playground-building contracting business, say they won't do business in Jackson anymore after thieves stole $6,000 in tools from a construction site at Medgar Evers Boulevard and Forest Avenue Extension in August.......
Collins said the property crimes detective refused to review the security tapes of a nearby convenience store because the severity of the crime was not worth possibly getting a court order. But the Collins brothers said the loss of the tools put them out of work for weeks while they raised the money to replace them.
Collins said he called and left messages with a number of people, including the mayor's action line.
"We were promised we would get calls back," he said. "No one called us back. We've already told (our clients) in Jackson, 'Don't call us to Jackson.'
Does this passage or the story need any additional commentary?

If you have similar stories, feel free to email them to this blog at kingfish1935@gmail.com. Too often crime victims are ignored by the authorities and media.

Related note: Chris Joyner published on his blog the crime stats for Mississippi cities:
http://www.clarionledger.com/misc/blogs/firstamend/UCR4blog.xls