Mississippi lawmakers voted this week to give more power to a state police agency that has come under fire for shooting four people in the city of Jackson since last summer.
The expansion of the Mississippi Capitol Police to patrol all of Jackson was a centerpiece of efforts by mostly white Republican state officials to exert more control over law enforcement in the majority-Democratic-led capital. black.
The measure passed the state Senate on Thursday and the state House of Representatives on Friday over objections from Jackson lawmakers and now goes to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves. A second, related measure that also passed this week creates a temporary court system outside of city control, with judges appointed by the chief justice of the state and prosecutors appointed by the state attorney general, who would handle low-level cases. in a part of the city known as the Capitol Complex Improvement District.
«I think it’s the right thing to do to protect against criminal activity and help the city of Jackson, and it’s my hope and prayer that this bill helps,» said state Rep. Trey Lamar, a Republican representing a northern district. of Mississippi and an author of the bill creating the new court.
State Sen. John Horhn, a black Democrat from Jackson who has expressed support for the Capitol Police, said he agrees with the need to address the city’s crime problem. «But the way this looks says something else,» he told colleagues on Thursday. “And it fits perfectly with the old stereotypical notions that the rest of the country has about Mississippi.”
Reeves’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Supporters of the bills said they were trying to help Jackson deal with record murder spikes and an overburdened court system. Some residents have welcomed the Capitol Police since it began patrolling parts of Jackson beyond the state buildings last summer, saying the city needs more police officers because the Jackson Police Department is understaffed.
But the four shootings, including one in which a father of two was killed and another in which a mother was injured while lying in bed, have drawn criticism from the Capitol Police for a lack of transparency. The agency works beyond the supervision of city officials and has policies on use of force and car chases that have not been updated since 2006. The Capitol Police have said little to explain the shootings, they continue to be investigated by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. The department has said it will update its policies governing force and pursuits soon.
One of the bills passed this week says the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Capitol Police, would have primary jurisdiction in the Capitol Complex Improvement District, an 8.7-square-mile area of Jackson that includes government buildings in the center, as well as peripheral neighborhoods. Capitol Police began patrolling the district last summer. But under the bill, the Capitol Police would also be able to patrol and make arrests anywhere in the city.
The other bill that passed this week focused on the new temporary court to handle crimes committed in the Capitol Complex Improvement District. The bill would expand the district to the north and south by July 2024, and the court would end its operations in 2027. The bill does not focus on the Capitol Police, but says agency officers must receive body cameras.
The growing role of the Mississippi Capitol Police in Jackson
- Last summer, the Mississippi Capitol Police launched a street crime unit to police parts of Jackson well beyond government buildings.
- The agency has an unusual level of authority for a state capitol police force, and has faced criticism for aggressive patrols in the majority-black city.
- In December, a Capitol Police car chase ended with an innocent 49-year-old woman shot in the arm as she lay in bed. Surveillance video appears to show the moment an officer opened fire.
The state Senate and House of Representatives spent hours debating the bills this week, with the authors, Republicans who live outside of Jackson, defending the measures against attacks by Jackson Democratic lawmakers, who said the sponsors were telling them to the city how to solve their problems without asking. for the entry of local officials. Critics called this racist.
“This police force has no accountability to the city of Jackson,” Rep. Edward Blackmon Jr., D-Madison County, just north of Jackson, said Friday of the Capitol Police. “This doesn’t exist anywhere else in the state of Mississippi. It is about race because we are the only race that is subject to this type of process.”
Rep. Nick Bain, a Republican from Alcorn County, more than 200 miles from Jackson, and author of the bill expanding the jurisdiction of the Capitol Police, said Friday that he could not heal the wounds of racism, but said that He’s trying to get help to Jackson. residents who feel unsafe.
«That’s all we’re trying to do is have a bigger presence, a bigger force, to protect the capital city that I love, that we all love,» Bain said.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety also had no immediate comment.
bracey harris contributed.