JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – In an exclusive interview with 12 News, Jackson Police Chief James Davis said the rise in violent crime is a community issue.
Since the beginning of 2021, 113 people have lost their lives to violent crime in Jackson.
“Many of them stem from gang relationships, dispute, domestic violence. Which on many of these, cases the offender knew the victim,” said Davis.
This past weekend’s deadly shootings are no exception. In three separate cases, three men died and one was left critically injured. Davis said in situations where people choose to resolve issues through violence, it makes it hard for officers to do their jobs.
“We cannot predict nor can we prevent when someone shoots each other. Okay, these individuals were into with each other. They didn’t call the police and say, ‘I’m about to shoot this individual.’ If they did that, we would have intervened, but we don’t know that. We can’t read their minds to know when they’re going to resolve their conflicts or their issues or their disputes or retaliation with gun violence,” stated Davis.
Officer Sam Brown, the public information officer for the Jackson Police Department, said officers can’t be everywhere at once.
“We can’t have a police officer at everyone house. We can’t have a police officer in everyone’s car. I mean a lot of these crimes, again they are social crimes that know each other, and when two friends that be with each other all day decide to get mad at each other and decide to solve their difference by gun violence, there is literally nothing that anybody can do at that particular time, because it’s just two people in a situation and it can’t be prevented,” said Brown.
On Thursdays, the Jackson Police Department holds conflict resolution classes at the Jackson Police Training Academy.