GRANT SUPPORTS ADDED POLICE PATROLS

Residents Of Three Complexes Getting Extra Security

For Angie Collins, the more blue-and-white police cars she sees, the better.

"I just want to be safe," the Rebelwood Apartments resident said, talking
with Jackson police officer Jaye Coleman as he patrolled through the
complex at 200 Rebelwoods Drive in south Jackson. "I don't have a problem
with (police) coming through here every day doing their job."

And the police are coming more often because a federal grant is paying for
added patrols - about five more a day - through the complex that ranks No.
1 for police calls in Precinct 1, according to statistics provided by JPD.

The $250,000 grant, secured by the Village Apartments with Rebelwood and
the Lodge Apartments as partners, does more than just pay for more police
patrols through the complexes. At the Village Apartments at 386 Raymond
Road, the primary applicant for the money, the grant also funds an
after-school program, a tutoring program and a summer reading program. It
helps pay for more private security from off-duty deputies with the Hinds
County Sheriff's Department.

The initiatives are part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development's New Approach Anti-Drug Program, which awards federal money
for cooperative community efforts such as the one proposed by the Village
Apartments. Village Apartments and the other partners are the only group in
the state to receive a grant.

"It's a new venture for all of us," said Sylvia Carraway, property manager
for the Village Apartments. "We think it's probably the best thing to come
down the pipe in a long time."

The Jackson City Council approved the added patrols earlier this month.
Ordinarily, police were able to send patrol cars through about 10 times per
shift, said Precinct 1 Cmdr. Eric Wall. There are four shifts per day.

With about $20,400 in grant funds, which pays for overtime, the police
added five more patrols per shift.

"The officers go into the complex, walk through the complex, drive through.
It's a supplement," Wall said. "We're rolling through a lot of times."

For officers such as Coleman, who are assigned to high-crime areas like
Rebelwood, which had 439 calls for services to JPD in 2001, the added money
means he gets a chance to meet more residents and further his relationship
in the community.

"We're trying to deter crime by being out in the open," Coleman said. "It's
a deterrent, and it works."

Standing outside her second-story Rebelwood apartment, Shirley Calhoun said
she likes seeing cops instead of crooks.

"I see them very often, and that's great," said Calhoun, who recently moved
in. "I see them all times of the night, all times of the day.

"I feel safe."

At Village Apartments, the grant-funded after-school program, which opened
in May, helped more than a dozen children through the end of school. It'll
start again in the fall.

Southside Assembly of God, located near the apartments, provides the
on-site tutoring and after-school programs for the 264-unit complex.

"The program has been a great help for my daughters," said Jerry Dean
Hornsby, whose daughters Jacinda, 14, and Otecia, 12, receive tutoring in
math and reading.

"(Jacinda) was having problems with pre-algebra, but at the last moment,
last week or so of school, she made an 85 on one of her major exams,"
Hornsby said. "It ... gave her courage to work at it, not to give up, but
to work as hard as she could.

"Otecia was having problems with reading comprehension. She also was able
to pull up her grade."

Southside church member Tammy Ades said the program helps children learn
not only what they need for their classes, but what it takes to achieve
their goals, too.

"We instill in them that their life will require them putting forth the
effort," Ades said.

Both the after-school program and added police patrols are supposed to help
deter crime. Precinct 1 experienced a 10 percent jump in major crimes from
2000 to 2001 - the only increase throughout the city. Both the Village and
Rebelwood are in Precinct 1. The Lodge, at 1595 W. Highland Drive, is in
Precinct 2.

Law enforcement, while noting a number of variables contribute to crime,
say part of the blame for the Precinct 1 increase may be linked to the
concentration of 33 apartment complexes in the area, where large numbers of
people reside and pass through.

During this year, Wall said, there's been about a 13 percent drop in major
crimes in Precinct 1 to date, which is in line with a drop in the number of
major crimes throughout the city.

"The apartment complexes have a lot better communication (with police),"
Wall said. "Visibility helps. But it's going to take education, educating
tenants, and to have to tenant and management working with you."

Janice Tillman, property manager at Rebelwood, said she encourages
residents to call police.

"It shows the residents are concerned about their community," Tillman said.

Collins, who has lived in Rebelwood for five years, notices improvements.

"It used to be you'd run and hide. People would come through here, shooting
going on," she said. "It was real bad.

"But it's getting better."