EDITORIAL/Restore law and order
A separate judicial district in the heart of Jackson that is tough on crime along with more state police on patrol to arrest criminals are ways to combat the rising and record crime that we in the suburbs will not escape forever.
Jackson’s murder rate is three times worse than Chicago, worse than St. Louis, Baltimore and Memphis. We will not escape this evil always because criminals are like cockroaches.
Gov. Tate Reeves last month proposed doubling the size of the Capitol Police so there will be more boots on the ground in the Capitol Complex Improvement District that includes downtown and the historic Belhaven neighborhood.
Treating central Jackson “like the Green Zone in Baghdad,” flooding it with police and creating a special judicial district to prosecute the accused with hard-nosed judges is a solution to restoring law and order, State Auditor Shad White told the Canton Rotary Club last week in response to a question about the soaring crime just over the county line and even in Canton.
If our state is to thrive fully, we must have law and order in the Capital City, one governed by laws, not abandoned to daily violence and chaos. We all have an interest in stopping this deadly cycle.
Many leaders on the state level agree that having a Capital City that is vibrant, full of life and safe is essential, a city where parents can let their children run around in the yard without having to fear being shot or the family carjacked arriving at home.
We believe in a better Jackson. We have faith that our state has what it takes to make Jackson a city that is a hub for business and investment, a city where jobs are plentiful and opportunity is only limited by how hard one is willing to work.
Reasonable citizens of all races and walks need to take back control from the liberals who have a different agenda.
Reeves and others have championed the expansion of state police to support local law enforcement and restore law and order to Jackson.
“To our law enforcement officers who wake up every day, put on the badge, and risk their own personal safety to protect and serve us, thank you,” Reeves said. “As long as I’m governor, I will do everything I can to provide you with the tools and resources you need to keep us, and yourself, safe.”
More broadly, the Auditor spoke to the Canton Rotary Club about the underlying causes of crime. “Why is a young man, 19 years old, feel like he’s got nothing to do in life except murder somebody?”
White pointed to a Junior ROTC program in the Jackson Public Schools that’s working. “That program, inside JPS has a 100% graduation rate. 100% graduation rate,” he said.
About Canton, he said, “I’ll just be very blunt. I hear that a lot, specifically about Canton. It is very difficult for whatever reason to get people in Canton to squeal about what is going on. It is particularly difficult here.”
How much more so in Jackson and elsewhere in our major cities especially where the Democrats are in charge and they are killing the police?
A Gospel response to this mounting evil all around us is to repay evil with good, yet we can remain absolute in our stance for law and order and justice without compromise.