This article first appeared on the Magnolia Tribune.
- Officials say meetings with the public indicate the Jackson community sees the extra manpower and police presence as beneficial.
The expansion of the Capitol Complex Improvement District (CCID) has given the Capitol Police nearly triple the amount of territory to patrol but through partnerships with other agencies the transition is going well, state and local officials say.
The Capitol Police, a division of the Department of Public Safety, is overseen by Chief Bo Luckey.
“As you may know, we went from 8 square miles to approximately 24 square miles,” Capitol Police Chief Luckey described.
The CCID expansion is part of the legislation passed in 2023 – HB 1020. Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said the new footprint takes in several areas outside the Capitol area.
Expansion of the CCID included funding for 37 more officers to be added to the current 150 sworn personnel on the Capitol Police roster. That extra funding also accounted for additional patrol vehicles and equipment needed to outfit those officers, Luckey said.
Now, the Capitol Police will be the primary responding law enforcement agency for a large portion of the state’s capital city, a municipality that has experienced rising crime and murder rates in recent years.
Yet, the Jackson Police Department (JPD) officers and deputies with the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department still have jurisdiction and will respond to calls.
“We are still answering calls within the CCID,” JPD Chief Joseph Wade said. “We will not have any citizen waiting on the side of a road or in their home for 30 minutes to an hour.”
Chief Wade said his department is answering 6,000 to 8,000 calls per week throughout the city of Jackson. All 911 calls go through the same system, and when that call is determined to be within the Capitol Police’s jurisdiction via geofencing, it is then transferred. Wade said that in the three weeks the CCID expansion has been in effect, he’s seen the calls for Capitol Police response double.
“They were answering between 120 to 150 calls per week that we were patching over to them from our 911 center. Now, they’re averaging 300 calls for service a week that we are patching over there,” Wade described.
The JPD Chief added that those numbers are from the past three weeks. Efforts are also underway to form a separate 911 call center for the Capitol Police.
“We are working on developing a 911 system for the CCID, which will give us the ability to accept those calls directly,” Chief Luckey said. “And we hope to have that up and running by the first of the year.”
The legislation also prompts the Capitol Police, JPD and the Hinds County Sheriff’s departments to hold public meetings to hear concerns from the public, Commissioner Tindell noted. Chief Luckey said those meetings have been productive and he’s mostly heard positive feedback from the community.
(Photo by Jeremy Pittari | Magnolia Tribune)
Significant impacts have already been seen through the collaboration between the departments, in conjunction with Governor Tate Reeves’ Operation Unified announced earlier this year. Operation Unified brings together state and federal resources together to fight crime in Jackson.
As previously reported, since the operation began in January, over 600 individuals have been arrested, hundreds of firearms have been seized, and large quantities of illicit drugs have been taken off the streets.
READ MORE: Operation Unified enters second phase in fight against Jackson crime
Commissioner Tindell’s plan is to get the Capitol Police up to 250 officers in the coming years in an effort to police the additional area even better.
Chief Luckey said the hiring process for the additional 37 officers approved in this most recent expansion is underway. Most of his hires have been through word of mouth, so recruitment hasn’t been necessary. Luckey added that the department’s retention numbers are also looking good.
“The recruitment has been going very well here and the retention rate is much, much better than we expected,” Luckey explained.
As a result of that extra law enforcement presence in the city of Jackson, arrests are up.
Commissioner Tindell said that in 2020 prior to the Capitol Police being moved under the umbrella of DPS, the agency had about three arrests per year. The following year when the department became part of DPS, those officers performed 60 to 70 arrests. Those numbers continue to increase.
“So, some might look at it and say, ‘Crime is up in the CCID,’ but we look at it and say, ‘We’re actually doing a better job in catching criminals and charging them,’” Tindell explained. “Hopefully the net effect of that is people are feeling safer in their neighborhoods and in the businesses.”
The community is responding positively, officials say.
“When you talk to the people out there you really feel the pulse of what the community is getting out of it and I think the community is loving what Capitol Police is doing,” Tindell said. “They love seeing a more proactive Jackson Police Department under the leadership of Chief Wade.”
Chief Luckey agrees the community response and meetings have been productive.
“What we have found is the overwhelming majority of the people that attend these meetings are extremely happy with the progress that the city of Jackson has made,” Luckey elaborated. “Not just with Capitol Police but also with Jackson Police Department. They have a new chief there, who’s only been chief for a year now, and he’s made tremendous strides with the police department as well.”
Jackson City Councilman Ashby Foote said the number one issue for the city of Jackson has been to address the rising crime rate, especially violent crime. As such, he supports expanding the CCID.
“I think the number one prescription for trying to get that under control is greater police presence,” Foote said.
Councilman Foote also commends the efforts of the JPD under the leadership of Chief Wade, who in his brief time as the department’s head has been able to increase the number of officers to more than 260. Foote believes continued coordination between all law enforcement agencies involved in Jackson will advance public safety in the city.
Other efforts expected as part of the CCID expansion include improvements to the city’s roads and water and sewer infrastructure, Foote added.
Jackson’s City Council was informed by Chief Wade in previous meetings that the expansion will allow his officers to focus on areas of the city with high crime rates. However, Wade told Magnolia Tribune since the expansion is only three weeks in, that transition of focus has not yet taken place.
“We don’t want to pull up stakes and move our people out of the CCID,” Wade stated. “Like I stated, we’re still going to maintain a footprint, we’re still going to maintain a presence. I especially don’t want to do it prematurely since they don’t have their 911 in place.”
Chief Wade is looking forward to the gains that can be made with the partnerships formed as part of the CCID expansion and the Governor’s Operation Unified.
“I say it all the time, there is power in partnerships and their resources and relationships,” Wade added. “I think we are taking advantage of both of them right here in the city of Jackson.”
This article first appeared on the Magnolia Tribune and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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