Jackson Jambalaya

Thank you for posting these.... I wouldn't see them, otherwise.

all you have to do is go to the city of jackson website, where Kingfish gets them from.

it is public information from the city, which doesn't have to post it but chooses to.

give the city credit for some transparency on a thorny issue.

Well the JPD website is extremely slow... AND it says they have the crime report from July 6- July 12 but it's not there... :/ oh well at least they are trying....

I don't go to the City website. They don't post pictures of babes or nice Sunday music.

@2:01 Haha!

Yeah, thanks for posting this up KF!

Damn, NOT a good week to be a car in this town.

..or a house. Or a business. Or a person. Or small livestock. Or..

Question to all: What level of crime is acceptable in a city the size of Jackson?

It seems to me from the comments here, on the CL, etc., that any crime equals the demise of the city.

Cities will have crime. Population centers by there nature contain a substantial amount of poverty. Poor people make bad choices, including commission of crimes. We have lots of poor people. Crime is going to be an issue, but it isn't necessarily any more than in other population centers similar to Jackson.

Of course we feel like it's the city's demise. People are busting into homes in broad daylight with the home owner standing right there. Forcing us to ATMs at gun point. Have to tell your vehicle goodbye forever every time you leave it in a parking lot. Doesn't exactly scream 'move to jackson, we've got this crime thing under control.' We're sick of it, so yeah we're going to verbalize it sometimes as if we're Detroit. "Acceptable crime"?, almost an oxymoron.

Acceptable levels of crime is not an oxymoron. It is an inevitability of living in a population center.

Where there are any gatherings of people, crime will exist. You cannot eliminate crime.

The point is not that the home invasions are terrible, and that property crimes are bad and invasive, but that they are not unique to Jackson.

What is different here than in other large population centers is that (metro) Jacksonians have an inferiority complex about the city and its obvious problems, and take every opportunity to make the snarky comment or pile on when a story about crime is on WLBT or in the paper.

I am not defending the city; it has more violent crime than would normally be expected in a city of its size. However, to read a story about home invasions and immediately start the "I'm moving the f out of here; it's a war zone" is reactionary.

Instead, go to your neighbor's house, have a neighborhood meeting, talk about ways to fight back and let criminals know that your neighborhood won't tolerate crime. On my street in Belhaven, we have monthly meetings, which are more like cocktail hours, where we talk about issues and identify ways to avoid problems. That usually means that the retirees or people who stay at home become more vigilant; when a suspicious vehicle is on the street, many people go out and inspect and stay out in the front yard, etc. We talk to JPD about their patrols and personally ask them to spend additional time or make additional passes (i.e., more presence).

We thank them for doing their low paying, dangerous jobs. When you exhibit interest in them, they do a better job in protecting you.

This is a better approach than throwing up your hands. By the way, I don't kiss my car good bye when I leave it in the parking lot. That is an exaggeration.

I love how you explain neighborhood meetings and vigilance as if you invented them. I, too, regularly talk to neighbors about the goings on in our area, am a member of our home owners association which pays our "security" guy, and receive regular emails about any and every little thing that happens on our street. We can tell you if a car we've never seen before so much as drives down our street. But I still don't like living in northeast Jackson. Doesn't mean that I think if I moved I'd be exempt from crime, just means I know the statistics of my area. So I just keep reading my little emails, and polishing my gun. Vigilance comes in many forms..

Stiletto, I usually enjoy your posts, but you are off the rocker on this one. You are being reactionary.

Of course I didn't say I invented anything. Your ad hominem ignores my points and chooses to sack me instead.

You've missed the point that I was trying to make. Any city, of any size, has crime. Some of it is violent crime. Jackson has its share of crime, with an arguably larger proportionate share of violent crime (I don't know that to be true, but for this conceit I will accept it).

When the paper or t.v. reports criminal incidents, residents of Jackson (usually those who live in the suburbs, but occasionally those in the city) predictably trot out the same tired old truisms and insults, usually ending with some version of "it's all going down the tubes".

Many other cities somehow endure property and violent crime and yet their citizens don't heap the type of knee-jerk, broad brush criticism on the city itself. The attitude you exhibit doesn't contribute any solution to the conversation. It just makes you look like a Statler or Waldorf, bemusedly observing and criticizing while not helping.

I hope that I am wrong about that, and I am glad that you are vigilant. I would think, then, that your neighborhood is relatively safe with the cooperation you have with your neighbors. In which case, I don't understand your general criticisms.

Otherwise, if you don't like living here, what is keeping you here? I would think that living somewhere that you don't like would make you miserable, and I can't imagine you like to be miserable as the status quo.

Man I'm gettin dogged out here ;-) ..for basically saying crime sucks and I'd perhaps like to live where maybe it wasn't so bad. That IS just plain nuts.

Wish I could sell my house, but there are four others for sale on my street (guess they're all off their rocker too) all four homes, no bites. So I stay put and do the communication with neighbors thing. How's that throwing my hands up and 'not helping'. Helping is going to be when I take out some thug for coming on MY property. Maybe they cousins will pick a different neighborhood after that. (yeah yeah have a field day with that one)

Subject change but anybody see Gran Torino? Excellent movie.

That was the best movie ever! And I stand with StilettoGOP... I empathize with the the people who live in Northeast Jxn and see how it has slowly shrank in safety-size over the past ten years or so. At one time, I-55 was the dividing line between "feeling safe" and "feeling not-so-safe" in NE Jxn. Not anymore. Crime IS in every city in the nation. Some more than others. And we've got more than our share. Trying to sell a home in NE Jxn can be a daunting task, especially in these times of economic uncertainty. Stiletto speaks her mind with a certain confidence that what she is saying is shared by her neighbors and friends that live in that area. No one likes crime but the criminals. And we ALL have the right to bitch about it. Stiletto, just keep it up... Need more like ya!...I'm watching that movie again tonight. Worth a second or third viewing!

It is good to keep the flame to the city's foot, but from looking at the majority of comments on the CL and other sites, you'd swear it's the Great Chicago Fire! I agree that more should be done about crime than present, but the overload of animosity and pessimism only hurts the overall morale of the city. The blame game quickly ensues shortly after and the conversations accomplish nothing once this all occurs.

As for home sales, they don't seem to be affected too much where I'm at. I've been here over a year and homes are selling currently for 10-20% more than I paid comparatively. Also, the retention rate is good as a lot of the sellers are moving to bigger houses within the neighborhood.