The Cowboy held his little crimefest yesterday and the usual suspects dropped in for the cameras. However, there was one little interesting nugget of information that came out of the dog and pony show. WLBT reported JPD Chief James Davis said:
Jackson’s police chief told the crowd that his department is short 100 officers and is pleading for help.
“We need help. Can you hear my cry around the State of Mississippi?” asked Chief James Davis. “We need your help. Step up and do the right thing and fund the Jackson police so that we can make the Capital City the best city in the country.” Article
Hmmm......., what did JJ report a few days ago?
As murders soared to record levels in 2020, the Lumumba administration substantially "under-spent" the police budget. The City Council appropriated $36 million to JPD yet JPD only spent $29 million, a difference of 20%. ....
However, the administration spent far less on police services than the City Council approved in its budget. Undoubtedly troubled by skyrocketing crime, the Council originally approved a budget of $35.8 million, a $3.7 million increase from 2019. The final budget increased slightly to $36.5 million. JPD did not take advantage of the budget increase as it only spent $29 million, $7.4 million less than what was budgeted even as murders rose to a grisly 130 homicides in 2020. The majority of the "under-spending" took place in personnel as JPD spent $6.3 million less than budgeted for personnel services. (p.118)
The "under-spending" can't be blamed on shrinking revenue. Jackson's total revenue was $264 million in 2020 and $242 million in 2019. Even during the covid pandemic, property and sales tax revenue increased by approximately $1 million in 2020. Jackson ended the year in the black.
46 comments:
Uhhh, Chief. You need to cry to da Mayor, not the state. It’s your boss who has the force weak, understaffed and under attack from his compadres.
At this point, I consider any and all information coming from this messaging-and-image-obsessed administration to be total BS. It seems like the only thing that matters to them is what other people think about them.
Poor-mouthing and racism are their only tools.
Downside to the increase of the Capital Police patrol area will be continued cuts from Jackson to the Police Department so eventually the state will pay for their entire crime enforcement. It will free up the police budget for the Mayor to spend on whatever project he may like. Same playbook they used for their water crisis. Why should the citizens of Mississippi be forced to pay for basic services for Jackson when all other municipal governments pay their own way? If the State of Mississippi plans to implement a reputable law enforcement agency in the City of Jackson they should bill and collect from the city's general fund the cost of said program. Just because they're incapable of providing basic services shouldn't be the State's fiscal responsibility.
I need more hands and feet to count the number of morons, clowns and assorted other ineffective chiefs of police the city has had since I moved to 'The Metro' 32 years ago.
Whatever became of the woman who had been a traffic cop at Jackson State, who appeared on Television three times during her turn at that job? One can only assume she's fully PERS vested.
Speaking of which, how does it make the reader feel to know that one day, Lumumba Junior will be drawing state retirement for the rest of his life?
Get in touch with Cowboy Hat and give him the reports and let the police chief hang himself with the report and his own words.
Maybe the mayor either has or will find a solution to this latest dilemma at that taxpayer paid for luxury resort in Banff Canada.
@1:22 PM, exactly like how Lumumba will drain city spending away from Belhaven post-CID approval.
"Step up and do the right thing and fund the Jackson police so that we can make the Capital City the best city in the country"
No matter the police force and safety, this will never be the case.
Please State of MS send us more money to misappropriate and not be held accountable for or we will call you racist.
There will be no reduction in crime, regardless of the spending.
All of that salary savings for the 100 vacancies is being siphoned away. Chad? Chad? Chad?
If they aren’t close to spending what they themselves put in the budget, why plead for the state to fund more officers? Sounds like the problem is not money. It’s management. Cops don’t want to work in this environment under this mayor.
2:21 PM and 1:22 PM
At that point I'd encourage the State to declare Downtown it's own version of D.C. and aggressively enforce the law.
"We need help. Can you hear my cry around the State of Mississippi ?.....We need your help. Step up and do the right thing...."
Who are you talking to, Chief ? Why are you asking the State or other cities to fund Jackson's Police Dept ? It doesn't fund the police dept of any other city or town in the State. You should be talking to your boss, the guy sitting right next to you who is supposed to be in charge in Jackson, i.e. the Mayor. Have you asked him to "do the right thing" and fully fund your dept because I haven't heard him say one thing about how he's trying to do so. All he does is ask others to do it for him. Good Lord this is crazy.
And just as KF said in this article and his prior one earlier this week, JPD has $7,000,000 in its budget that has been unspent. Assuming the average cost of an officer is around $150,000 a year (say %50k-60k in salary and another $90k-100k in other costs), $7,000,000 would pay for another 46 officers, roughly half of what you say you need. That's a huge start and big help, so why has that not been done ? Where is that extra, unspent $7,000,000 and why are you not using it to hire more officers as you claim you need ? Mr Mayor, I'd love to hear your explanation, but please don't BS us any more with the vague rhetoric that never answers the question.
Andy, pleeeeease stop wearing the freaking cowboy hat. It makes you look stupid. If you want us to think of you as Howdy Doody, keep wearing it. But if you want us to take you seriously and think of you as a smart, knowledgeable man, please stop.
“The Cowboy held his little crimefest yesterday”- why the petty dig, KF? Would you prefer he just stay in his lane, like a good public official?
Who are we talking about here? The police chief or Andy Gibson? Some posters have their hats on sideways.
4:10 pm
Many of us assert our individuality in our personality, manner of grooming and dressing or style of recreation.
Gipson is hardcore Conservative and a well educated, accomplished, determined leader. If the Stetson puts him in a comfort zone to perform, like Trump's or Musk's tweets, GW Bush's mountain biking, Reagan's horse back riding or Teddy Roosevelt's trophy hunting, it's surely better than what Bill Clinton or Pickering did to get their ya-yas out.
Some like the hat a lot better than a shaved head that serves mostly as a prop to store sunglasses.
Record crime, minimal JPD staff, deteriorating capital city, record murder rate and everyone is obsessed with a cowboy hat…
I think I see part of the problem here. 🤠
Chief needs a civics lesson and learn what local taxes pay for. If the state started funding JPD then every department would have their hand out.
Use that excess salary money. Raise salaries. Cut some of your 145 command staff positions and reassign none Enforcement roles back to the road.
(I would be interested in seeing JPDs command stuffier. I would be my bottom dollar that they are VERY top heavy in rank.)
Theft.
Can wearing a big ol cowboy hat put the wearer in a zone just like a loud fart pipe can put a young ricer driver in the Fast and Furious zone? Discuss!
Only pedigreed nimrods wear cowboy hats inside.
The crimefest remark was more a poke at all the damn summits we've been having lately. It seems the in thing to do.
Does anyone know why the Mayor & Chief left the meeting early? (Before the question & answer session)
Why is 3:45 not the post of the decade for all things Jackson?
Isn't Gluckstadt going to hire their police force from Jackson?
Andy Gibson didn’t start wearing that hat in public until he became Ag Commissioner. It’s a silly prop and he looks ridiculous. I wear wide brimmed hats myself out in the sun - nothing wrong with wearing hats. But he looks silly.
What good are more cops, when the DA and judges release them as soon as they are booked.
The Chief and LaMumbles are not complete morons.
Facts are irrelevant in the years post-pandemic.
Their base and the MSM only cares that a white male governor is the reason for the crime in predominantly black Jackson. I mean, they cant blame the almost entirely black government. That is not allowed.
No amount of proof or logic will enter into the equation.
The need to segregate themselves from, refuse all input from, and then demand financial assistance from same people that this administration loathes...they have no shame and no ability to make even vaguely reasonable choices.
Wear the hat Andy! And have a pack of "Red Man" protruding from your back pocket and a pair of muddy Cowboy boots. Don't stop at the governor's mansion You are bound for national office. This is still Mississippi! and Mississippi is looking for a man like you! Some are just too "educated" to admit it!
@7:35:
"Racer-drivers" with loud, often fake, exhaust notes, disturb the peace with unwanted, unavoidable decibels.
A man in a hat (with cattle BTW) is quietly asserting his individuality. Gipson, for whom rodeos and cattle auctions are emblematic of his culture, is no more unique than was Jim Buck Ross.
Perhaps his 10X beaver felt head ornament will become a symbol to fear in the murderous hood of Jackson, West of I-55 (as in "The law, West of the Pecos"), where stove pipe hair, saggy pants and chalk outlines now reign. I'm for all the capitol police to wear off-white cowboy hats on patrol, even on horseback occasionally, to strike fear into the dark murdering hearts of criminal sub-humans.
At least Andy Gibson is trying to do something- who cares if he wants to wear a hat. He's trying to help find solutions to the crime problem. I don't notice anyone else doing anything--
Nothing good ever comes out of one of these so called “summits”. Just a dog and pony show for people to goof off. It’s all BS
I don’t mind the hat. I do wish it would dual wield .50 caliber Colt Walkers or at the very least, two .45 caliber Colt Dragoons, just like the Josey Wales or Rooster Cogburn.
Attn 11:34 Please get of of your dope pipe and respond intelligibility.
11:34, the cowboy hat doesn't transform Andy from Barney Fife to Josey or Rooster. Josey
I don't care if Andy tweets, rides bikes, rides horseback, or trophy hunts... sure don't care about the hat. I don't even care if he wears boxers or briefs. It's what's between his ears that matters.
@10:47
If Andy Hat could send Chuckles the Clown on a Missouri boat ride down the Boo Boo River, I would gladly nickname him Josey Wales.
I noticed no one is complaining about or making fun of the mayor's dyed beard.
12:02
There are very few things about the appearance of African Americans you can mock and still get your comment approved. Kingfish is a total pussy.
@11:12– He would have to take off the fake mask to see what’s there between those ears. Heck he may be even a RINO. Can you say RINO RINO RINO since you don’t seem to know enough facts to ever debate. Geez one of you third graders even called Ronald Reagan a RINO last week.
To the juvenile 2:45... who has low comprehension skills: Dude, Andy sho aint no RINO in anybody's book. Your response is if you OD'd on you're MM. You need to play elsewhere.
@2:45
Methinks you doth protest too much.
And you sound just like a damn RINO
Someone should ask JPD or the Capitol Police for a report on the number of cars/trucks stolen (and their contents) during Cowboy Andy's crime fest. That's right, crimes being committed on site during the event.
Andy's Cowboy Hat on June 13 at 9:26 pm, your comment is almost correct but not quite right. It was a state government CLE conference on June 2-3 that was put on by Attorney General Lynn Fitch's Prosecutor and Law Enforcement Training division that was held at the Ag Museum. So the venue was under Cowboy Andy, but it was not his crime fest. Maybe even more ironic that the parking lot was filled by vehicles belonging to prosecutors, law enforcement, and other people attending this conference. Check police records for vehicles stolen on that Friday.
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