Mayor Frank Melton promised a hands-on approach to this city's chronic crime problem, and he made good from the moment he took office, donning a bulletproof vest and black fatigues and leading nightly police patrols that illuminated the streets with flashing blue lights.
But the pistol-packing mayor soon ran up against the harsh reality that crime actually increased 26 percent during the first half of 2006. Melton responded with another get-tough gesture: imposing a month-long state of emergency across the city.
"There comes a time when you just have to stand up," Melton said during a recent patrol, with his Rottweiler mix, Abby, by his side.
Some prosecutors and others say he is going way too far -- and perhaps breaking the law himself.
His state of emergency, which ended this week, tightened an earlier curfew on young people and was later expanded to include the homeless. At least 19 homeless people were taken to a city-run gymnasium after 10pm, and at least eight of them were given jobs picking up trash in the city.
Michael Stoops, acting executive director for the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, said Melton is the first mayor in the country to put a curfew on the homeless. Stoops said his organization is considering legal action to keep other cities from following suit.
"For a liberal Democratic African American mayor to consider homeless people as vagrants is a way to defame an entire group of people," Stoops said.
Some prosecutors have objected to Melton's practice of putting on police gear and picking up a shotgun, and his habit of taking crime witnesses into his home in a sort of self-styled witness protection program. And some business leaders say the state of emergency is hurting the city's image.
"We do support the mayor in what he's trying to do. Crime is a major problem," said MetroJackson Chamber of Commerce Chairman Eddie Maloney. "The only problem we have is the state of emergency tag. It gives a negative context to the city."
Melton said he knows his tactics are not popular with everyone, but he sees his approach as the only salvation from a crime rate that is nearly twice the national average, and which he believes is driving investment away from his city of 180,000.
Police Commander Tyrone Lewis, a city spokesman, said there was a decrease in crime during the state of emergency, but he provided no statistics. Melton has said he hopes to work with city leaders to pass even stronger ordinances on crime.
Marty Wiseman, director of Mississippi State University's Stennis Institute of Government, said it is too early to tell how Melton's unorthodox approach will play out.
"I'd hate to tally all of the times the constitution has been played loose and fast with, but maybe we need to experiment a little," Wiseman said. "At the end of four years, we will have tried the nice way and we will have tried the Wild West way."
Melton took office last July after getting elected with 88 percent of the vote.
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
RSS