The Precinct 4 Community Oriented Policing group (COPS) met at the Precinct 4 Headquarters at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 26, 2006.

Bob Oertel called the meeting to order and led us through introductions. We then began with announcements, updates, and old business.
Kimberly Campbell, Esq., Policy Analyst (kcampbell@city.jackson.ms.us), represented CoJ Council President Marshand Crisler. She was present to hear major concerns from Precinct 4 residents, business, professional, and police leaders. She noted Councilman Crisler’s office had been receiving a few complaints about response times to reports and a wide variety of parking violations.

Resident John Dickson mentioned an 18-page document that he sent to the mayor detailing concerns he had about several issues on North State Street. These included loud parties at 3811 N. State and gun shots (including those from an AK-47) and front yard parking at 3422 N. State. One episode involved an attempted attack upon him by a drunk off-duty police officer (not assigned to Precinct 4).

Bill Osborne brought up the Howard Gober and John McKee issues. The group acknowledged that the way that current laws are written protect property ownership. So even though we go through the process and have these people fined and arrested, the bottom line is the city can not literally make them bring the properties up to code. This aspect hinders our efforts to get them to fix up their properties and has limited the penalties imposed upon them.

Properties in the 200-300 blocks of Millsaps Avenue and 2120 Lamar were noted as well. If you know of any other property code violations or issues to be directed to Councilman Crisler, please email them to Ms. Campbell and cc Bob Oertel.

J.T. Noblin noted the pervasiveness of disregard of traffic laws and suggested that this breeds a culture of lawlessness. In response, Asst. Chief Sandefer noted the recent purchase of 300 new radar guns and the issues of 2,500 traffic violation citations. (We need to get the time frame for those citations) Bob Oertel noted that folks should also obey unwritten laws of traffic courtesy and provided the specific example of letting vehicles merge when a blinker is present and an obvious intent to change lanes is made.

Jeff Anderson reported on Environmental Court issues. Howard Gober did not appear in Environmental Court today but was found guilty on five counts in absentia. He was fined $250 plus costs on each count and sentenced to six months for each count, to run consecutively. In addition, steps are being taken to demolish the worst of the two homes he owns (1426 St. Mary St.). Interestingly, Mr. Gober’s wife paid all back taxes and liens on the properties before Christmas.
John McKee was put in jail because of the 3622 Cavalier property situation. He appealed and is out on appeal. His case will be brought to the February 16th Environmental Court which convenes at 2:00 on that Thursday. The major problem is not with the judge but the lack of room in Hinds County for misdemeanor criminals. Every time someone is thrown in jail for a misdemeanor, someone guilty of a felony has to be released so that seldom happens.

Goldia Revies, Director of Constituent Services for the Quality of Life (QoL) Division noted that ordinances can slow down the process of getting results quickly. Commander Winstead named the two QoL Officers for Precinct 4: Officer Barbara Folsom and Officer Katina Brooks. Several residents of Precinct 4 praised these two officers for their competence and dedication. It was noted that QoL officers are sworn JPD officers who can make arrests, unlike the Crime Prevention officers.
QoL officers deal with problems such as noise, cars parked in yards, roaming dogs, and trash. It was noted that the laws often make it difficult for them to be effective. For instance, the Supreme Court of Mississippi ruled that Jackson’s noise ordinance is “too vague” and thus cannot be enforced. Though a new ordinance is being written, there is no current law regarding noise levels. Also, “an officer’s peace cannot be disturbed” so an officer can not make an arrest for excessive noise until a citizen signs am affidavit.

John Dickson told of a recent episode in which he, in the company of an on-duty police officer, was trying to reduce the noise at a party adjacent to one of his rental properties when he was almost attacked by a drunk off-duty JPD officer. He sought redress but found no satisfaction. Asst. Chief Sandefer, Goldia Revies, and Commander Winstead all asked for the offender’s name and promised results, noting that Police Chief Shirlene Anderson tolerates no impropriety.

Goldia Revies offered a variety of brochures outlining the work of the QoL Division. Her cell phone numbe is 601.519.9130. Those attending were invited to call her (the phone has voice mail) if there is an issue. She suggested that we need to be good neighbors, keeping an eye on our neighborhood, even picking up a neighbor’s paper if it stays in the driveway too long.

Ask the Commander
During this segment, Commander Brent Winstead gave statistics for 2005, noting there had been a 6% decrease in overall crime from 2004. He suggested that 6% is better than nothing but that we have much work to accomplish in getting Jackson where we truly want to be regarding crime.

The following are some totals for Precinct 4 in 2005

9, 048 house alarms answered
46,000 calls for service
102,000 total calls for service including traffic issues
14, 020 citations issued
3,038 misdemeanor arrests
3,425 total arrests
246 felony arrests

The COMSTAT for January indicate that auto burglaries are still our major issue. There has been an increase in these crimes since 2004. Ridgewood Road, the various shopping centers, and the I-55 corridor (motels, restaurants, and shopping areas) are the prime locations for auto burglaries. Several suspects have been arrested. The major players have been jailed at least three times previously. Their method of operation is to use juveniles to do their dirty work. Madison County is being very cooperative in working with JPD to bring an end to this crime spree.

The current auto theft law provides a fairly short period of time after the theft during which an officer may arrest someone for stealing a car. If more than approximately 10 hours have transpired since the theft, about the only charge that can be made is “trespassing.” The crooks are smart and employ various strategies to avoid arrest for auto theft. When the JPD is facing the totality of a city and the various occasions for police interaction (robberies, accidents, assaults, and the like) it is impossible for JPD to monitor a parked stolen car for hours or days waiting for the thief to return to claim it, particularly since the only charge would be trespassing. Recovery of a stolen car is about the best citizens can expect. When a stolen car is identified, the law requires the officer to wait for the wrecker to come and to stay with the car until it is hooked up and being towed. Wreckers have 45 minutes to respond to a call before another wrecker can be called. Thus recovering a stolen car is a very time-intensive issue for JPD. It was noted by several present that what is needed is wise changes in the law. Part of our responsibility as citizens is to know who are representatives are so we can advocate for appropriate changes in the laws under which JPD must operate. The point here is that a lot of crime fighting must be done through legislative means!

Citizen John Dickson presented his issues to the COPS group. He and his parents own a large number of rental properties in Precinct 4. After being driven out of some of the poorer sections of town, they have invested heavily in the Fondren area, believing it a viable area for their investments. But they are having a tough go of it because of problems with improper behavior by those who live near his rental properties. One of his primary concerns is the time of response to his calls. He suggested that while the City of Jackson has no noise ordinance, there are numerous other ordinances that could be used to quench the enthusiasm of those who flaunt the lack of a noise ordinance. He cited such things as an elderly citizen ordinance, an open container ordinance, and a parking on the sidewalk ordinance that could be employed to force obnoxious citizens in lieu of a noise ordinance. He described the situation in which he came close to being attacked and beaten by a drunk, off-duty policeman.

Commander Winstead assured Mr. Dickson and the group that he would look into this specific chain of events and give us an update on procedure and accountability. Assistant Chief Sandefer noted that in recent months, the 9-1-1 Center has hired additional people so the workforce is at 68 currently. That is still below the number needed but represents a significant improvement over the past several years.

Bob Oertel then got the group to address the following issues:

• Increase participation by citizen, city, and business representatives
• Identify and submit proposals for grants to fund Jackson COPS initiatives
• Promote being a "good neighbor"
• Create better communication strategies
• Beautify the city by facilitating park enhancements, organizing cleanups, and creating incentive programs like "most improved neighborhood" contests
• Organize one precinct wide event/party
• Promote the national ICE Program
  Adding ICE (In Case of Emergency) as a contact number in to all cell phones

Regarding beautification, Asst. Chief Sandefer noted that the courts are now sentencing people to alternative service. He volunteered to help the P4 COPS group get some of these people to help with park clean up in order to beautify the city. He also promised to provide the list of the 198 registered neighborhood associations in Jackson and their contact info.

Bob Oertel then broke us into groups to discuss the major issues facing us. After a brief time of small group discussion, the group reported the following items.

• Goldia Revies is getting brochures with COPS meeting times and place printed.
  She will provide Bob Oertel with copies when they are available.
• Glodia Revies will provide Bob Oertel with the city media list.
• We need to include ALL of Precinct 4
• We should get signs printed with the COPS-4 website (when we get a COPS-4 website)
• Numerous “talk radio” shows are anxious for participation.
  We need to pursue this avenue!
• We need to have a link to our organization on the Fondren website.
• We need to encourage the promotion of a Jackson license tag to provide revenue
• The head of JAN (Jackson Association of Neighborhoods) needs to be our guest.
• We need to ask businesses to send a representative to our meetings.
• It was noted there are several grant applications in process to get funds to improve Cherokee Park, and that the Fondren Renaissance Foundation is taking a lead role in its improvement.
• The need for a dog park was noted.

The next meeting is on February 23, 2006 at 5:30.
Everyone present was challenged to bring someone else to the meeting, with particular attention given to those who live or work outside the Fondren/Belhaven area. Send Bob Oertel the email address of these individuals before the next meeting so an email reminder can be sent.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:45 p.m.

If you have any concerns or issues that you want to discuss during this meeting, please let Bob Oertel know. Remember, if you have anything to report regarding properties and code violations, please use this action request form. Fill it out and bring it to the meeting for submission.