JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
It's no secret there's a problem in South Jackson, but it's one assistant police chief Lee Vance says his department is making progress with.
"Are we were we want to be, absolutely not, but as our strategies evolve it appears that our numbers continue to go down and that's what we're trying to do," said Vance.
That problem is crime. The number one offense is house burglaries. Vance says precinct one which covers South Jackson averages about 25 a week which is better than it was three years ago with about 50.
"Twenty five house burglaries is nothing to crow about and we're not crowing, but you have to recognize progress just like you have to recognize it if you're not making progress," said Vance.
That progress, Vance says, doesn't happen overnight and attributes it to initiatives like community programs and the DART team, set up a couple of months ago to strictly deal with identifying crimes.
"They are out there to prevent crime. They are out there to confront the criminals," said Vance.
Criminals really began plaguing the area when Vance says a population shift happened. That brought in more calls for service and a concern of safety to about 70,000 people who call the place home.
"It doesn't necessary have anything to do with geography. It has more to do with more people moving in down there," said Vance.
Currently, Vance says the department has just under 500 officers ,about 70 of them are assigned to precinct one, which is now divided into 10 beats. Since the beginning of the year 1,023 arrests have been made in precinct one. It's an ongoing battle which Vance says the department won't stop fighting.
"Are the problems completely gone, absolutely not, but we believe the strategies are working, we got the numbers to back it up and our strategies will continue to evolve until everybody down there can feel safe," said Vance.
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