Jackson Jambalaya

The city of Jackson is our capital city. It’s time to go in their and kick ass regardless of what the dingleberry mayor is doing or wants. This isn’t clarksdale where we can all afford to let it to go to pot and just never go there again. Let’s clean it up and run the trouble makers outta there or into a jail cell somewhere. That first paragraph was a great and accurate smack down of current Jackson leadership. Chokwe is a joke. Nice enough guy when you meet him, but he is posing at this job and he is failing. Second most dangerous city in USA. Let that sink in, dang.

Gutsy report, thanks. Jackson should take the tax money allocated to the Belhaven area and pay these police more money, since Belhaven is going to tax themselves and will not need Jackson’s money.

Well written and to the point. I think the Respect portion is what is hurting JPD and the COJ the most. Why would a potential hire choose JPD over a surrounding municipality if they understood the risk? Additionally, isn't this why MBI won't assist JPD based off the mayor's policy. There has to be a balance between protecting victims of police brutality and the police and their families when deadly force is justified.

Church is out now.......

so..about 35 percent of jackson residents would agree with all this, and 65 percent either don’t care or relish the lack of city leadership or are blind to the reality of city leadership..

Baby Chok is a racist liberal hack, who has no interest in getting violent crime under control in Jackson. The few remaining level-headed voters (black & white) in Jackson are the only hope of voting his sorry ass out of office.
If that happens, maybe then Jackson can begin to pull itself out of the dumps.

Baby Chok - how is your blood pressure this morning? Foaming at the mouth yet? Throwing objects in your office? Screaming and cursing at your chief of police?

Sure, it's everyone else's fault in your bold new city. Jackass!

301 Officers with only 155 on the streets? 1 admin, support, etc. for every patrolman. Is that a typical ratio for Police depts? On the punishment/incarceration side, instead of: offend, arrest, convict, imprison, release, repeat.
Violent offenders, murderers should remain incarcerated or be executed.

The voters in Jackson love the city.

They also detest law and order.

The feds or the state will have to address the crime problem. The city is dysfunctional.

“ Recently, a majority of the Jackson City Council voted to defund 50 police officer positions in order to raise salaries for new hires.”

What the hell does this mean Mike? You claim they are defunding police to give the funds back to the police? Scary buzzwords don’t help anything Mike. You are a political hack along with the rest of department of defending Trump.

What we are witnessing in Jackson is the re-education of radical idealists who are no longer outside the system spouting their slogans and criticisms but now must find a way to actually govern a financially strapped city. The ideology learned in radical academic circles by the mayor and his cronies mean nothing to under-educated, minimum wage or unemployed, undisciplined characters who now dominate the Jackson landscape. They will continue to kill each other until stopped, one way or the other, sad but true. Jackson's police should be the toughest, most uncompromising in the country to be effective. Otherwise they will be wasting time and money. This mayor should take his soft socialist ideas to a city that can afford the high price of his economic upheaval, maybe San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, or maybe Minneapolis.

Mr. Hurst is eaxctly right in what he is saying but, it is not going to change the City of Jackson as long as the voters keep electing these clowns. Not only is the crime rate beyond ridiculous, the whole place seems to be falling apart, the condition of the streets is a total disaster, the water and sewer systems are constantly failing and the city administrators want to blame it all on tne previous administrations.
There will be no change until the voters wake up and throw these worthless bums out. Unfortunately we know that isn’t going to happen.

If someone wants you dead or wants to kill you there’s no police force in the world that can prevent it. Law enforcement comes to the scene of a crime or AFTER the murder has been committed.

One to grow on.

155 patrol officers, divided by 4 precincts is 39 per precinct. 39 divided into 3 shifts is 13 per shift. When you take into account routine days off that leaves roughly 10 officers working at best. Now factor in vacation, sick leave, training days etc., that leaves somewhere between 5-10 officers working at any given time. That is astounding! No wonder the department is not effective, it is impossible to provide law enforcement in a city the size of Jackson with so few officers.
Policing can only do so much. The culture of the citizens of Jackson will have to change. This has been in the making for almost 60 years when the welfare policies began. It has resulted in fatherless homes, which leads to a broken family structure, kids having children with no ability to support them, broken education system, which results in many other problems. As a result citizens who want a better life and a future for their children move away further eroding the tax base. All of these issues are related and feed on each other.
I applaud the U.S. Attorney for offering to help, its better than doing nothing but it won’t be enough. Jackson’s problems have been in the making for decades, and it will take decades to recover. Until the citizens stop electing the same people that have been so ineffective nothing will ever change. I will use Bennie Thompson as an example. The district he represents is one of , if the not poorest district in the country. It was when he took office 20 odd years ago and still is. He has done nothing to improve his district but is re-elected overwhelming each time. Kenneth Sykes is another, I can go on and on.
UntIl men and women are elected who are able to provide effective leadership nothing will ever change.

Not a thing will change one iota. Da Mayah will be re-elected without any trouble. I predict over 128. Could surpass Chicago. Folks I know around here sometimes refer to Jackson as little Chicago.

The Police have absolutely no part in whatever happens to offenders once caught and put in jail. Now if there is no investigation and presentation to Grand Jury, you may have a partial argument, but you need to also bring in the DA's office for dragging ass as well. Like I've said before, build a small coliseum, charge admission and get money from refreshments.

LE pay in MS is ridiculous. I retired as a supervisor from a medium sized law enforcement agency in another state 30 years ago. When I retired my gross pay was at $75,000/year. I paid a proportion of my medical/dental/vision insurance and a percentage toward my pension.

This was 30 years ago!

Adjusted for inflation, $75,000 in 1990 is $152,839.41 today (per dollartimes.com).

Nail meet hammer.

@8:49: This comment indicates a lack of understanding regarding budgeting procedures. Removing fifty payroll slots on a budget to redistribute the money to existing personnel means that's FIFTY POSITIONS GONE AND YOU CANT' HIRE 50 MORE BODIES TO PATROL THE STREETS. To be sure it's understood think of this; I have 5 employees. I have enough money in my budget to pay for hiring 5 more and increase service to my customers, productivity and efficiency of services. Instead of hiring five additional personnel I choose to split the money between the five I already have. No extra people to serve my customers. No increased productivity and efficiency through reallocating workload. My Point? The statement made by Mr. Hurst was accurate in that the City of Jackson defunded (moved funds budgeted to hire NEW PEOPLE) and simply spread it among those they already had which are not nearly enough. Mr. Hurst was absolutely correct and I hope this comment helps us understand why his statement was correct. OAN: Somebody please send us an adult to run this damn city.

@8:49AM (the first one)

I will type slow so maybe your brain won't overheat. It means that they originally budgeted X amount of dollars as a base salary for X amount of officers. Let's say 100 dollars for 100 officers. That would be 10,000 dollars. Still with me?

NOW they have voted to spend 100 dollars for 50 officer positions. That would be 5,000 dollars. The other 5,000 dollars from the budget will go to 25 of those remaining officers (the new ones)so those 25 will be making 200 dollars.

Of course in reality, they aren't just going to fire the 50 positions they defunded, which means the cost of those 50 people will have to be absorbed across the board or from some other source.

Hope this helps. Feel free to share any basic mathematical concepts you've learned today with the rest of your piece of shit brethren.

if only Jackson was a miniature Chicago! we’d have world class museums and arts. beaches and amazing architecture. we are more miniature memphis...

Chapter 9 cometh.

Mr. Hurst clearly has political ambitions.

If Mr. Hurst wants to change Jackson, he should run for office in Jackson.

The capital complex should incorporate into its own entity, governed by the state. Adjacent neighborhoods could petition to join the new entity.

Its a horrible situation in Jackson, but do not see how more police, or better paid police, will keep friends, cousins and lovers from shooting each other.

If you are LE and reading this, you are dumb for going into Jackson to help. Their administration is not going to support you and the Officers are going to turn their backs to save themselves. If you’re forced, call the PBA, get the order in writing then call in sick. Kenny has already told you that they are going to throw rocks and bottles at you. What do you think is going to happen when you have to use deadly force? You’re going to be humiliated by news media, your supervisors that told you to go there are going to turn their backs for fear of political backlash, and you will be indicted by the DA’s Office. The DA’s Office is going to call Mike Hurst and ask him to prosecute as a hate crime. The Federal Officers that are forced to go to Jackson and help and are going to stay in the car or a good distance away. Come on LE, I’m giving you their play book.

Signed, A Law Enforcement Officer

Baby Chok is hoping and praying that Benny will croak or retire soon so he can fill that position.

Jackson is dead and nothing will bring it back. Nothing!

Jackson won't spring back to its former greatness until it hits rock bottom, just like a drug addict; just like Detroit.

Pouring more money into Jackson is a fool's errand.

10:10 No. There are lots of idiots out there who refer to Jackson as "Little Detroit" not understanding that Detroit was once the most vibrant manufacturing hub in America. Detroit screwed itself on enormous pension plans and beyond reality spending during a manufacturing meltdown, but that city is still home to big corporations and it will be back. Jackson never was, and has no base to come back. Jackson is just "Little Jackson". It sets it's own standard.

I typically like "Bold new cities" but sadly I despise getting murdered so I stay clear of Jackson.

@8:50 and others, your blame is misplaced. PLEASE give us "voters" an option. No one worthy, credible or sensible will run for the office, leaving us to choose which clown to elect or not voting at all.

The mayor likes to say, "With poverty, comes crime." Like robbing, stealing & murdering are the only legitimate ways out of poverty - because it relieves him of having to actually do something, like create jobs.

A city in economic crisis needs good fiscally conservative probably Republican leadership. The Democrats who run Jackson are real good at spending money, but too bad, they cannot demonstrate their talents in broke ass Jackson and there is no hope that help is on the way. Hopeless for at least a generation.

8:49 am Defunding the Police Department is the first problem in maintaining COJ and to protect & serve citizens. Mike Hurst is correct, don’t blame the messenger for the truth. Crime is neither political nor a lame game. If you went to the jails and prisons and polled each inmate as to party affiliations I don’t think you would get the response you expect. Unless you are willing to work for peanuts, then leave the men and women in blue and Mike Hurst the heck alone. Apply for a job if You can do better!

"Its a horrible situation in Jackson, but do not see how more police, or better paid police, will keep friends, cousins and lovers from shooting each other."

Ding Ding.

Jackson has it's issues and the solutions take a little effort from all parties. Including State leadership. Again, your capital city has these issues but when the Legislature allows it...

Jackson has a crime issue. Jackson needs a jail. Jackson also has issues with an over reliance on Religion and undiagnosed mental illness. Surprising that most people would want more funding for the incarceration, but none for the mental illness issues that plague this entire state. Yes, call me whatever you want but these issues plague communities outside of Jackson and just because your family member killed themselves instead of someone else, doesn't make it any different. A lot of armchair QB's with no knowledge of what's really going on in the city unless it's the St. Patricks Day parade with a whole lot to say. I'm not just talking about white people, either. I'm talking about who doesn't navigate the city and thinks someone like Kenneth Stokes is the most powerful person in the city because of soundbites.

"The mayor’s actions are compounded by rulings from local Jackson judges, who habitually release admitted murderers and violent offenders back onto our streets, who can then terrorize victims’ families and intimidate potential witnesses."

SPOT. ON. The Judges are a significant problem.

12:33 PM
Problem is the State prioritizes social workers with an Associates Degree over actual mental health professionals with a Bachelors or Masters.

With poverty comes crime? Lots of "journalists" have written that with poverty comes obesity. They show their lack of travel and education. Haiti has lots of poverty and obesity is very rare. Same for most truly poor places.

With poverty comes obesity only in a place where citizens do absolutely nothing but live off of the public dole and a combination of poor dietary habits and no exercise (read this as "work") leads to obesity.

If the "mayor" did say this, he has a common factor with these "journalist"; both have their heads so far up their own asses that they are looking at their appendixes.

Lots of us grew up with little or nothing and were not at all well off but a combination of family (yes, family, including both parents, not just a mother and a sperm donor), religion, and an ethic that led us not only to work but also education, dept us from being poor in our lives.

Try that for a thought: family, education, and work ethic. Missing that, it is all to easy to blame someone else or something else than to look into a mirror.

"The capital complex should incorporate into its own entity, governed by the state. Adjacent neighborhoods could petition to join the new entity.

October 16, 2020 at 10:17 AM"

I was thinking the exact same thing 10:17.

____________

"Problem is the State prioritizes social workers with an Associates Degree over actual mental health professionals with a Bachelors or Masters."

Social workers will never help Jackson, no matter their degree.
What have they done to help any city/town over the last 50 plus years?

Yeah, they mean well . . . but the fact is they hardly have an impact on anything.

THE SOLUTION DOES NOT REQUIRE MUCH IQ.

"Lots of us grew up with little or nothing and were not at all well off but a combination of family (yes, family, including both parents, not just a mother and a sperm donor), religion, and an ethic that led us not only to work but also education, dept us from being poor in our lives."

AMEN Brother !

And in my family, (from that same environment) came two Physicians, a School District Superintendent, and a millionaire Dairy Farmer.

Only a few facts caused this "American Dream" . . . family, ethics, education and hard work.

Good points Albert 1:50PM

We should amend the definition of Basic Needs from food, shelter and clothing by adding “safety.”

I was just yesterday telling a younger man that my siblings and I were extremely blessed with two parents, backed by grandparents, that all emphasized morals…but materially…we were pretty much broke.

We never missed a meal, we had a roof over our heads, and never went outside without decent clothes, but other than a bicycle and a few toys, material possessions were very, very limited.

But, what we were so “privileged” to grow up with, that Jackson children today aren’t, via absolutely no fault of their own, is SAFETY.

Every single politician, judge, preacher (especially those drawing their huge 6 figure incomes from “tithes”), every so-called journalist and professor should be ashamed that we’ve allowed America’s children to be subjected to the criminal atmospheres that they now have to grow up in.

We can go to the moon, win world wars, create all types of ingenious inventions and billionaires out the wazoo…so don’t ever let anybody tell you we can solve this problem.

Crime is fixable.

Ahh of course. The “Grew up with very little and I turned out great” stories with very little background given. Of course y’all did.

1:43

and if the state does that, then wouldn’t the state bare some of the blame on the state of its Capital city?

LE in MS don’t get paid anything... If Mike Hurst really cared about his LE “brothers” like he says he does he would be demanding state leadership to increase funding for officers throughout the state.

6:21 PM typo correction:


We can go to the moon, win world wars, create all types of ingenious inventions and billionaires out the wazoo…so don’t ever let anybody tell you we “can’t” solve this problem.

1:05 AM, nice post there.

Way to show how much you really care and how much you really want to be a part of a solution to innocent children dying from stray bullets or being propelled into gangs and a life of immorality and horror, due to out of control crime in Jackson.

Growing up without a lot of material possessions but in a safe environment i.e. without the worry of dying form a stray bullet, etc., is in fact a privilege…and turning “out great” without being born to wealth is the real American Dream IMO.

Now, if you ever want to direct your cynicism towards the truly privileged that are sowing division and scamming poor people out of their $$$ by selling them cheap communist Chinese child labor made products with huge profit margins, and/or the Billionaires backing them…count me in.

10:06

What if I came from that place you imagine? It’s easy to comment on this board with what you think the issue and solution is with an outside viewpoint. Be better, Bootstraps.

It doesn't matter about pay in order to get good officers because as long as Jackson has a mayor and council with their attitude Jackson will always be what it is. it starts at the top.

Chuck wants gun toting thugs to hug it out to solve their problems. Blame it on the gun shows and anything else a liberal can come up. Chuck should be more concerned with crime than wasting his time on the zoo. Chuck hates law enforcement at every level. With this attitude Jackson is doomed.