Home burglaries in Northeast Jackson shot up 60% since 2009 according to crime reports provided by Jackson. The latest major major crimes overview report (posted below) states 380 house burglaries have occurred in Precinct 4 this year. There were 290 house burglaries a year ago - an increase of 31%. However, the crime report for June 19, 2009 (posted below and obtained through a public records request.) states there were 237 house burglaries- an increase of 60%.
The reports for the previous 28 days each year fare no better: 63 this year, 60 in 2010, and 40 in 2009 - an increase of 50% in two years. Precinct 4 saw the sharpest increase in house burglaries as overall burglaries for the city increased YTD 14.8% since last year and 28% since 2009. There is no doubt Precinct 4 led the way as the increase from 2010 to 2011 for Precinct 1 was 4.1%, 15.8% for Precinct 2, and 20.2% for Precinct 3.
There is some good news in the crime reports. Violent crime decreased in Precinct 4. There were 108 violent crimes committed in Precinct 4 in 2011 and 152 such crimes in 2010- a decrease of 29%. However, there were 94 violent crimes in 2009 and 228 in 2008 - an increase of 14% since 2009. However, there is one disturbing trend: rapes have sharply increased. Rape increased 183% as 17 rapes took place this year in Precint 4 after only 6 occurred in 2010. There were 9 in 2009 (88% increase). and 7 in 2008. Homicides are down 75% as there has been only one in Precinct 4 this year and four last year.
Editorial section: That was the news, now for the editorial opinion. While JPD reports crime is down in Jackson, a certain editor at the Jackson Free Press has a few things to say about fearing crime:
OK, folks, let's get remedial here. The FBI releases numbers this year about 2010. They're always half a year behind, as I understand it. The story above is about crime this year (2011) over, or under, last year (2010).
Explain to me how this is a "discrepancy." It kills me when people don't think little details like *years* and dates matter. This is how Wilson Carroll made a fool out of himself when he ran against Faye Peterson years back, waving around so-called "rankings" based on old FBI crime numbers from before she held the position. I simply know that my fellow Mississippians can be smarter than this and actually pay attention to facts. I believe it. Please prove me right. posted by DonnaLadd on 05/25/11 at 04:08 PM
Well Miss Ladd, we are using facts here, facts straight from JPD's own crime reports. Not some ranking by an outside group, not old stats from the FBI, not a spin job by some campaign, but the facts as reported by JPD. Here's a good one from May 11:
"A huge problem with these "dangerous" and "violent" rankings (often used to sell books or increase TV news ratings) is that they take into accounts crimes that are not actually dangerous or violent. You just linked to something that is mixing up violent and property crimes, including those where a person is nowhere to be seen in order to be put in danger or at risk of violence.
The truth is that people are at much higher risk of danger, of being physically harmed, by commuting in and out of Jackson every day, especially now that fools text and check email while driving.
In Jackson, if you're not involved in the illicit drug trade in any way (including all those "good" white folks who go looking for drug dealers to buy their weekend entertainment), you're at very low risk of being harmed in a criminal incident. *That* is fact. Words matter. Images matter. Insults matter. Facts matter. Truth matters.
posted by DonnaLadd on 05/11/11 at 10:06 AM
No comment necessary. Continued:
"In order to overdose on crime (because they think that will save their media outlets), too many papers and broadcasters ignore positive news (certainly seldom lead with it) and barely do any in-depth contextual and investigative reporting. Our first priority is not to be yet another bad newspaper obsessing about crime. And we wouldn't still be here had we tried to out-sensationalize the Ledger. posted by DonnaLadd on 05/13/11 at 10:29 AM"
Yes, ignoring burglaries going up 60% in two years in NE Jackson is certainly "positive news". Ignoring streets suffering multiple burglaries in the last few months is whats needed. Here is my favorite:
"What's remarkable to me about the so-called discussion that The Clarion-Ledger's simplistic reporting caused is that it has taken on the tone that black people (thugs and people not doing enough to stop them) are running the poor white people (and some middle-class blacks, too) out of the city. Meantime, the people fleeing are not being held accountable; they are the poor victims of the horrible (black) leadership.
I'm sorry, but this is a first-grade, and very disturbing, interpretation of the Jackson metro's dynamic, even if it does play into some folks' small-minded agendas. posted by DonnaLadd on 02/25/11 at 12:30 PM"
Yup, get robbed several times or like Rebekah Hixon's grandfather, get beaten in your front yard and nothing gets better, you are the problem, not the criminals, if you move to a safer environment. Property crimes are real crimes. They are more than just taking someone's "stuff" he worked hard to buy. "Property crimes" are about living in fear, worrying whether your children are in danger, explaining to your child why she should not be afraid in her own home. Funny how such child advocates never seem to get that point. If your car is stolen,well, you are supposed to be thankful you weren't killed or raped. Pointing out NE Jackson has a burglary problem is no "sensationalism" or trying to get ratings but is intended to show there is a crime problem so residents can better protect themselves and put pressure on its leaders to do something.
There is a crime problem in Northeast Jackson and something needs to be done about it. It is true violent crime has decreased but what that means is the thugs have gotten smart. Just as stockbrokers like the highest rate of return for the least amount of risk, so do criminals. Its much safer to rob an empty house than mug someone who might shoot his mugger. It is no secret Precinct 4 has the highest property values in Jackson. Bragging about 5% or 15% drops in crime mean nothing to those living in fear because there were four burglaries on their block in one week. The truth is Northeast Jackson does have a crime problem and the question is what will the city do about it.
27 comments:
she says we wouldnt still be here if we tried to out-sensationalize the ledger.... how does the JFP exist? where do they get there funds from? whos footing the bill for a free paper? does anyone know? im just curious
1. Why did you only go back 2 years into the data?
2. What do you suggest the city do to combat the problem in Pct. 4?
For those of us in the burbs - what are the boundaries of Pct. 4?
The reason Precinct 4 crime is way up: they've already stolen evrything from the other 3 precincts.
Thugs and crime have been moving toward Northeast Jackson for a few years now. You could actually see it happening as people moved out of the area for safer places to live and raise their families. First the crime and thugs creeped up the North State Street and Old Canton Road from the Meadowbrook and Fondren areas and then crossed the interstate headed NE. What is now left in NE Jackson is homes for sale on every street as people try to leave.
I have a friend who has lived behind Colonial Mart for a long time. He felt reasonably safe until one of his elderly neighbors was robbed while they were away one morning shopping. Now he is leaving not because of the robbery, but because the thieves just for pure hate killed his neighbors' much beloved pet dogs who were left inside their home.
to the first statement, i wish i knew.. im neither the middle as far as politics but leaning right more and more every day, i wish i knew so as to not support whoever is supporting dladd
Remember when Meadowbrook Cinema Six was THE place to go see a movie in North Jackson? That's where I saw Love at First Bite, E.T. four times, and gosh knows how many more movies as a kid. Breaks my friggin' heart.....
Great post, KF. Truly disturbing numbers.
I remember when you could go to the movie behind MetroCenter....but I am an old dude.
Let's see, there was Metro (saw "Highlander" there), Cinema West (saw "Buffalo Rider" there), Ellis Avenue Cinema Four (saw "Hellraiser" there), the Capri in Fondren (saw the first "Star Wars" there), Meadowbrook 6, Deville ("Rocky Horror"), and maybe one other, I can't recall. That's six or seven movie theatres. How many are in Jackson now?
Zero.
Years ago there was the Paramount on Capitol Street and the Lamar on Lamar Street. Seats in the Paramount were the most comfortable I've ever sat in....popcorn at the Lamar was good, though.
I do not have the actual statistics, but I would guess that crime went up dramatically in Precinct 4 when the station house was moved from Old Canton Road on the east side of the interstate to the Fondren area on the west side. Perhaps if we had more, smaller precincts, we could all have better neighborhood protection. But the main reason we have more crime is that Jackson's lackadaisical police force doesn't answer calls promptly, when an if they answer them at all. Thank God this state finally passed a castle law, so people can take the law into their own hands, an unfortunate situation cause by an incompetent administration and a police force that doesn't want to get their own hands dirty.
I remember when Metrocenter was built and you could go to the movie at Jackson Square
To 2:35....there are no theatres in Jackson now for specific reasons. Have you ever been to NorthPark Theatre on a Saturday night? It's Jackson-come-to Madison-County nite. They have already run all of the theatres out of Jackson and are moving towards running the NorthPark theatre off. The're like a bunch of wild animals out there. I will never take my family there again.
Meadowbrook 6. Top Gun. Got there late and had to sit on the first row. I thought I was on the aircraft carrier with Tom Cruise.
Haven't been to that area of Jackson in years. No reason to go back, thank goodness.
Magic Johnson was going to build a movie theater until he actually looked at who was going to be attending. Not even he was willing to risk the liability. Maybe Donna Ladd will open one up.
It ain't about race. Jackson moved beyond White Flight ten years ago, it's well into Black and White Flight now. I'm pretty sure the census numbers back me up on that, but I'd need to go back and see....And when most of the good folks who can afford to get out do get out -- black and white -- what do you have left?
Great stuff...Donna Ladd just started in on me on Twitter over a tweet I wrote a couple days ago about crime in Jackson and the JFP's constant attempts to downplay any crime reporting.
Follow me @mgeoffriau
4:44 Donna Ladd is wasting her time. Seriously no one pays any attention to her, and there's no fooling anyone about the crime in Jackson anymore. She needs be worried about her own safety. I just heard on the news the other night about a large number of cars being broke into in the Fondren area. Not surprising is it? You need an underground secret bunker to hide your belongings if you want to keep them and live in Jackson.
Well according to Ronni Mott in an exchange with a friend of mine its their fault for not hiding their valuables in their car.
I went to a matinee at Northpark a week ago and the idiots couldn't start the movie. Got my money back and went to the Malco in Madison on Sunday. Won't waste my time at Northpark anymore.
and for the record, I don't think Ladd's narrative or thesis is crime is a perception but is that the media sensationalizes crime and people buy into it while no one really bothers to look at the crime stats and analyze them. Obviously I disagree with her on crime, but I think that is where she and others are coming from.
Not sure who to believe. I heard the mayor of jacktown and the city council both say crime is down. Then I come here and it says up.
http://autos.yahoo.com/news/auto-theft--worst-cities-for-stolen-cars.html
KF -- I recognize that the JFP believes media treatment of crime is a leading or strongly contributing factor. Ultimately, however, they still come back to the idea that the problem is with the discrepancy between the actual crime rates (and relative danger to the average citizen) and the public perception of the "crime problem" and how safe or unsafe people feel. They don't have to deny the existence of crime entirely, they simply downplay and dismiss the concerns as "sensationalism" or "hype." Nit-picking over national rankings misses the point.
That's essentially what I mean when I say the JFP boils the crime issue down to a perception problem, and it was that statement that led to Ladd's twitter tirade that I unwisely allowed myself to respond to.
As you have noted above, nearly every time they talk generally about crime in Jackson, or specifically about actual crimes, it's almost always qualified by saying that it's simply the trade-off of living in a big city, or that if you are not using illegal drugs you are actually safe from crime, or that while crime is bad, traffic accidents from commuting are a greater danger. On and on it goes.
I work in Banner Hall, I go to church on Northside Drive, and I live about one mile north of County line. I want to see Jackson growing and improving, both because there are a lot of creative, hard-working people in Jackson, and because I'm personally invested in the success of the city. Part of that process has to be acknowledging the total crime problem, which means addressing the crime itself, the city's response to the crime, and the public perception of the crime and the city's response.
You mean Twitterwell hasn't solved all of this already with a barrage of self-promoting tweets?
I heard Vance say the other day on WLBT that the main cause of carjacks in Jackistan is that people leave their car doors unlocked and park in unsafe places. So, now, if we can just get folks to lock their vehicles and park under street lights, the jack numbers will quickly decline. Right?
On the bright side, these numbers give my fellow Madison County residents who invested in that 2,400 sq foot $350,000 French Acadian spec house something to hang their hat on.
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