Jackson Jambalaya

This guy left Gluckstadt for Lumumbaville?! Either he is nuts or Gluckstadt is doomed.

Maybe it was a huge raise in pay? Maybe he likes a challenge?

Was not expecting that. This is VERY interesting.

Gluckstadt must not be growing fast enough to afford him.

Does he have to actually live in Jackson?

2:05 said, "Maybe he likes a challenge?"

He has been granted his wish.

Wonder what happened for him to even consider leaving the burbs and going to Jackistan?

There are some things beyond mortal comprehension. This is Exhibit A!

What the h@@@!
Why?

I tried to tell the Gluckstadt mayor and board that they need to spend the extra bucks to have a professional administer psychological profile assessments to those being considered for department head positions.

Let this be a lesson.

Considering that Jackson ONLY hires people like him, with the intention of throwing them under the bus (after people like him have finished catching up on all the work that 'True Jacksonians' have neglected to do), I wish him luck.

More crime means more business for the police

He started at JPD.

There's probably more "opportunity" in Jxn....

Got to be the money. I hope Hale accepts, I have liked everything is has done to this point. JPD vs GPD. Two very different worlds

Maybe he can do the assistant chief gig then make extra cash working security detail for Hennefin.

Hopefully Watts will run for Sheriff of Hinds County. Lord knows we need him!

This will be a big loss for Gluckstadt and a black eye for the Mayor of Gluckstadt. You don’t loose a seasoned professional like Watts without their being a problem with the administration.

@7:25pm *they’re

If he is a “yes man” to Lemumbles, it could be very prosperous for him…

Fully agree with 7:25 pm

I don’t think anyone will see it as a black eye for Gluckstadt or it’s Mayor but everyone is scratching their head wondering about the Chief. I don’t know why anyone would work for the city of Jackson especially under this administration especially if you are white.

Probably a very nice increase in pay and he wants a high 4 years for PERS purposes.

He spent most of his career at JPD. He hasn’t lasted much more than a year with any other LE department since. Just being honest.

That's the PERS system. All that matters is the "high four" and its affect on the 13th (lifetime) check. Appears that he is looking at the long term - thinking he can survive the last two years of Baby Chock's term, maybe hold on for another during a transition, and then he and family be set for the remainder, thanks to the shitty system that our state has established for all that suck the tit of PERS. Hell, most of us can stand a couple of bad years if the benefits over the next twenty are good.

GOING FROM high/mid 5 figures A YEAR to 116-155k (with year end bonus accruals from proven goals met) a year makes a difference in quality of life.

1:18 AM seems to have the most logical answer.

A split second thought was well Watts is a great guy and got tired of speed trapping honest hard working law abiding tax paying contributors to society as a money raising scheme for Gluckstadt, but that thought didn’t last long since integrity cannot be a reason to work for Baby Chokwe (at least Jackson’s judges aren’t so chicken s__t that they don’t show up for court).

1:18 AM’s PERS scam theory definitely makes the most sense. Just better hope he doesn’t go down for enforcing the law in pro-lawlessness, chicken being murdered and killed via stray bullets, Democrat controlled Jackson.

Not nearly enough crime in Gluckstadt (as in 99.9% less than Jaxtown) to keep him
engaged. Good luck and watch your back (and front) in Hinds county.

7:25 & 8:20 - "there"

Maybe he wants to do more than shoot radar and leach money from residents through tickets.

Gluckstadt is a MESS

10:06 you may want to research your information. After leaving JPD I believe he worked for Merit Health security for the last several years. Not law enforcement agencies.

@9:00

Wooooooosh!

That was the sound of a joke flying over your head!

@9:14 AM - No! He worked there as a part-time adviser, not fulltime. He was a watch commander at Madison PD immediately prior to GPD.

You need to research your "facts."

https://onlinemadison.com/stories/watts-appointed-citys-first-police-chief,37179?

He is leaving because it is sleepy hollow, i.e. very little crime. He wants a little more action, which Jackistan has in spades.

Geeesh, all of you experts commenting are hilarious!

Small town politics. Sometimes more unendurable than big-city government.

He's a great guy and has the heart to try and do great things with JPD. He was with JPD for many years prior to Merit and Gluckstadt ... it's his turn to try and turn the police force around there. If anyone can, it will be Watts. Good luck, buddy!

9:31.
Just going by his Linkedin profile. Doesn’t look like part time
Director of Security/ Emergency
Management
Merit Health Central
May 2012 - Present • 11 yrs 6 mos
Jackson, Mississippi Area
Retired Police Commander
Precinct 4
Jackson Police Department
Nov 1992 - May 2012 • 19 yrs 7 mos

Wonder if the new GPD Chief will be from within or tapped from MCSO or MPD.

@3:20. Been reading long?

9:03 - Go ahead and tell us what you think a municipality gets out of writing a ticket. I'll wait. It's right at zero.

i sure hope Barry Hale is offered the job. great guy.

I second that! Barry Hale is a stand up guy!

Completely disagree @ 7:25. Maybe he just couldn’t hack it? Sounds like a quitter to me, when the going gets tough, tuck tail and run back to your safety net where you were allowed to get away with anything and will get your high four in the process for PERS. Gluckstadt is no Jackson, and from the rumblings in law enforcement, it seems Watts was a poor choice to start up a new department.

Hale is the no brainer choice for this position and will not run it like Jackson. He will make a hell of a Chief and has the balls to get it done. Perhaps this board learned their lesson and will make the right decision this time.

As I recall, Wendell interviewed and lobbied hard for the Chief's job. His year-long tenrue ending, this speaks poorly of the Mayor and Board. He's certianly not leaving for more "opportunity" in Jackson.

Pretty sure it’s not about the money. According to comments here the Chief took at large cut in pay to accept offer at City. Why aren’t we asking what are the issues for him to make the difficult decision to leave?

@9:49 Great question!
Who leaked this? What does leaker have to gain?

All of this unfounded speculation is hilarious to me.

Gluckstadt Road west 35 mph, Bozeman Road 45 mph. Solution take Bozeman drive 50. What special moron set the speed limit? Chief Watts is a good man that’s doing what’s best for him! Best wishes