PRISONS: OVERCROWDING FEARS REAR AGAIN

During an election year, the last thing state lawmakers want to deal with
are fears of state prison overcrowding (again), dredging up the "soft on
crime" epithet.

Yet, latest figures show Mississippi's prison population is close to
capacity.

As of April 6, The Associated Press reports, there were 5,648 inmates in the
State Penitentiary at Parchman (which has a capacity of 5,711), and growing.
Systemwide, the state inmate population has grown from 19,206 in June, 2002,
to 20,143.

With a Department of Corrections budget deficit of about $60 million next
year, the last thing lawmakers want to confront is building more prisons.
They don't want to be tapped with the "soft on crime" tag either. But, if
the system can just hold on, though, help may be on the way.

In the 2003 session just ended, lawmakers approved Senate Bill 2605 to
establish statewide standards for drug courts, which Gov. Ronnie Musgrove
signed into law last week. The sooner they are established, the better.

The bill was boosted when State Auditor Phil Bryant calculated that just 500
participants could save the state up to $5.4 million annually. Not only
would fewer inmates be incarcerated, saving prison costs, the courts'
alternate sentencing also treat the problem in a failsafe way: If drug and
alcohol abusers aren't rehabilitated, they are imprisoned.

Once fully up and running, the potential cost savings (in dollars and lives)
is incalculable because drugs and alcohol are believed involved in more than
70 percent of crimes. At least a third of the prison population - 6,000 or
more - is serving time involving drug and/or alcohol offenses.

With drug courts, with prisons, it's only a matter of time.

Crime-fighting

Jacksonians must work with police

Among the city's five-point plan to fight Jackson crime is increasing
cooperation between police and citizens.

Police Chief Robert Moore met with The Clarion-Ledger Editorial Board on
Tuesday to outline the plan. Over the past few days, we have been examining
each of the five points, and will review them in coming weeks.

To Moore, Point 4: Community and Business Involvement," or community
policing, is the heart and bedrock to effective crime-fighting. He's not the
first to see that.

In May 1999, the Maple/Linder independent study of the Jackson Police
Department gave community policing as essential to fighting crime in
Jackson. That means enlisting citizens to act in partnership with law
enforcement.

Even with all the other Maple/Linder suggestions, which Moore is working to
implement, including more modern equipment, better street strategies, even
hiring hundreds of more officers, crime-fighting cannot be effective without
active community help and support.

Moore in the five-point plan intends by May 5 to create a Community Policing
Task Force. Beginning June 1, and continuing through September, he intends
to train city department heads and key community members regarding what they
can do to foster cooperation.

This will then extend to training in each precinct for local government,
business and community leaders.

Specifically, he wants to implement a "problem-solving process" to define
"roles for all participants" in addressing and preventing crime; develop a
list of "quality of life" conditions that need addressing, like overgrown
lots, run-down buildings in each precinct; and develop intervention
strategies for crime-inducing situations, such as school drop-outs, drug
abuse and domestic disturbances.

His overall goal is to "incorporate community policing into the culture of
JPD and the community, creating a partnership to identify and effectively
address problems of crime, disorder and quality of life."

Moore intends to use JPD's new technology, such as the ComStat (computerized
record-keeping) system, to track crimes and make that information available
to citizens.

This, with good, old human face-to-face "interfacing," could prove the most
important key to success.

For community policing to work, Jackson citizens need frank assessments and
detailed information. The department's crime analysis should be publicly
disseminated so citizens can react and - more important - have a realistic,
ongoing perception of the city's crime.

Moore is working to change the culture JPD with the five-point plan to solve
long-term problems and make crime-fighting more citizen friendly. Public
confidence is earned by openness and action. It's the "glue," if you will.

More crime information would help solve the realities - and perceptions - of
crime in Jackson, to make community policing ingrained and crime-fighting
effective.