JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A new initiative by the Jackson Police Department could help reduce crime at the city’s high-crime gas stations.
On Monday, JPD Chief Joseph Wade provided details about the new initiative, called “Operation Gas Up and Guns Down.”
“We’ve got to make sure that our citizens are safe,” he said. “I feel that we can have thriving business around the city of Jackson, but we have got to make sure that our citizens are safe as they visit these businesses.”
The operation begins on Monday and will include a special detail made up of officers from JPD’s Operations Division, Traffic Unit, Detectives Bureau, training staff, administrative staff, and Neighborhood Engagement.
“We’ll be focusing on loitering, panhandling, trespassing, gang activity, drug activity,” Wade said. “We’ll be collecting intelligence information on field contacts, on individuals just hanging around. We want to find out who they are and what is their business.”
City leaders for months have been grappling with how to address crime at the city’s convenience stores.
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said he’s been in talks with JPD, the Jackson Fire Department, Planning and Development, and other agencies within the city to discuss how to deal with nuisance businesses.
And about two weeks ago, Wade met with about 30 gas station owners to discuss concerns.
The city council, meanwhile, has passed two ordinances to address the problem, neither of which have been enacted.
Wade, meanwhile, said JPD has identified at least four gas stations in each precinct that have a “propensity for violence,” and that the department would be focusing on those stores in particular.
“I’ve challenged my police officers to get out of their cars. We will have sign-in sheets strategically placed inside some of these gas stations to make sure officers are getting outside of their cars, going inside these businesses,” he said. “We will make it safe for our citizens.”
So far this year, 73 homicides have been reported in the capital city, several of which have occurred at Jackson gas stations.
On July 21, two people were killed and four others were injured in a shooting at the Shell Station at McDowell Road and Suncrest Drive.
A day earlier, on July 20, another person was shot and killed at the Texaco at Medgar Evers Boulevard.
Last month, the council approved an ordinance requiring businesses to have security if they have at least three violent crimes in a 90-day period. The ordinance was initially designed to target gas stations but was expanded to include any business entity.
[READ: ‘As long as these people die, I’m going to bring the legislation’: Council approves measure requiring some businesses to have security]
The measure was expected to go into effect either August 1 or August 2. However, the city has held off on enforcement until the measure can be implemented in a way that the mayor says doesn’t violate the Constitution.
Lumumba did not know when it would be put into force.
“I would leave that question to the City Attorney’s Office,” he said. “I don’t have the full information on that. I can tell you that they’re working to tighten it up, as that’s what they have expressed to us. But we already know is that our police department is making certain that they are on the ground, [and] that they have boots on the ground, to ensure that people are safe while they gas up in the city.”
Watch the mayor’s full press conference below:
Earlier this year, the council approved another ordinance requiring convenience stores to have security cameras and to have those cameras tie into the city’s “Blue Light Camera Network.”
City Attorney Drew Martin provided the council with several suggestions to amend the ordinance at last week’s meeting.
Among them, he recommends giving JPD the ability to identify businesses where violence occurs and requiring them to have the same kind of surveillance as convenience stores for at least 12 months.
It’s not known when or if the council would take up those changes.
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