Mayor Lumumba says gun violence is like a disease that must be eradicated

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba addresses the recent shootings in the city, the violence and what can be done to stop it.

In an exclusive one-on-one this month, the mayor told 3 On Your Side that gun violence has become a disease that must be eradicated.

Mayor Lumumba says he talks with Police Chief James Davis daily. He says the recent gun violence is disturbing. He also says guns have become the norm.

Mayor Lumumba said, “We have a circumstance where young people are growing up in an environment where guns are far too common, the usage of them is far too frequent and so I think we have to go to the root of the problem.”

The mayor calls gun violence a disease and he says police officers as well as the community must work together to eradicate the problem.

“When you look at what is taking place, these have been social crimes and they have been interpersonal crimes. I want to be clear because sometimes false narratives have been established and people need to be aware that one, we know what we’re up against and we know what we have to deal with. But two, that undo fear doesn’t ensue.”

Mayor Lumumba tells us there is a shortage of Jackson police officers, but he adds:

“Anytime you have a man who decides to shoot his girlfriend in the foot, there’s no amount of police that can solve it. The police can’t be in that home, knowing that this is, you know, somehow having intel that he is going to shoot her.”

There have been two recruiting classes to add officers to the police department.

Mayor Lumumba said, “in Jackson we actually have a significant shortage of police, and so this administration has had two recruiting classes and we have a third that will graduate at the start of the year. That is three more recruiting classes in less than a four year period of time, where the four years prior there had only been one.”

We also asked the mayor if he believes many officers will leave JPD now that former chief Lee Vance is Hinds County Sheriff.

“He will quite naturally look at some people that he has some relationship with. There aren’t as many positions for deputies and so we don’t see our entire police department leaving,” Mayor Lumumba said.

Mayor Lumumba tells us he has talked with Lee Vance about the police department working in better harmony with the sheriff’s department.

The homicide rate in Jackson is now up to 80.

Copyright 2019 WLBT. All rights reserved.