With 30 days left until the new year, murder cases investigated by the Jackson Police Department reached triple digits after another homicide was confirmed Monday.
Encouragement from two consecutive calendar years of decreased violence in the capital city is somewhat dampened by the total staying above the century mark since a more than 62% increase from 2019 to 2020 when 133 killings took place. The bloody swell has softened since a staggering 160 murders in 2021, but Jackson has still held the highest per capita murder rate for major U.S. cities two years running.
With 106 slayings in 2024, Mississippi’s largest municipality is on pace to retain the morbid moniker of “America’s Murder Capital.” The city’s law enforcement leaders are now asking what it means and what can be done about it.
“It means we have 100 families here in the city of Jackson that are suffering. It means that we have 100 families that have been traumatized for the rest of their lives,” an emotional Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade said during a Monday press conference. “That’s what it means to me. And I’ll continue to fight for justice for them.”
Wade assumed the mantle in August of 2023 when he was appointed by Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and approved by the city council. Since then, the Hinds County native has guided the Jackson Police Department in a renewed push to curb violence. JPD’s manpower has increased from 221 to 264 since Wade took over, and the department currently boasts one of the nation’s highest clearance rates of 81% in 2024 – measuring the percentage of homicide investigations that end in conviction.
But, at times, it feels like a losing battle to those leading the charge. Monday’s announcement of the 100-murder mark was one of those times.
“I thought about it during the Thanksgiving holidays. I thought about these mothers that I met here in my office who were without their children. Most of the time it’s sons they’re missing that they’ll never get back. There are so many people now that don’t have their children,” Wade said, noting that two of the 100 murder victims were young he formerly coached and mentored.
Even as Wade and other leaders mourn the losses experienced in 2024 and beyond, their work toward a solution wears on.
In 2023, state lawmakers joined in on the effort when a pair of bills were passed and subsequently signed by Gov. Tate Reeves, expanding the jurisdiction of the Capitol Police Department – a state-funded agency that works in concert with Jackson Police in certain parts of the city – and forming an inferior court that is in the process of being established to hear cases of those arrested inside the Capitol Complex Improvement District.
Though some city leaders such as Lumumba have denounced the state getting involved in Jackson’s public safety scene, Capitol Police Chief Bo Luckey and Wade have both publicly emphasized a partnership approach where the two agency’s districts overlap. Luckey also echoed similar sentiments to the JPD chief when considering the city’s now-fifth straight year with triple-digit murders.
“Any homicide rate is a concern – for all law enforcement officers and the public. It’s astonishing what people will actually do to one another over basically nothing,” Luckey said, pointing to recent incidents like a late November murder in which a young man was gunned down over a pair of tennis shoes and an argument over a cigarette ended in homicide.
“That’s what’s really sad about this. People get upset over things that seemingly are not that big of a deal and they resort to violence,” he continued. “We can’t be there inside people’s homes. There’s no effective way for law enforcement to handle those situations proactively.”
Luckey went on to underline Wade’s assertion that a larger police presence is often the premiere deterrent to violent crime and the most practical step capital city leaders can take towards reversing the slaughter. But in the poorest state in the U.S., an influx of resources to pad police forces is easier said than done.
At the end of the day, there’s one thing those waging war against bloodshed in Jackson can agree on: even in the darkness of seemingly endless losses, the fight must continue.
“Our city deserves better. Our community deserves better. We’re going to continue to fight the good fight,” Wade said. “We’re not giving up. We’re not stopping. They might get us in the first or second round, but we won’t stop fighting. We’re going to go the distance. I can promise you that as long as I’m in this seat.”