Jackson residents voice concerns, preferences as city leaders search for new Police Chief

• The search for a new chief started last month after Joseph Wade resigned. Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones is serving as interim police chief until a replacement is hired.

The task force charged with finding Jackson’s new police chief received more than advice during a series of listening tours across the city recently. Residents took the time to express concerns ranging from violent crimes to hiring an outsider as the next top cop.

Mayor John Horhn and members of the task force held a handful off meetings across the capital city over the last two weeks, taking the conversation into the crime ridden central Jackson area to the safer Belhaven neighborhood.

At each meeting, Horhn told audiences city leaders are committed to hearing residents’ voices in shaping the selection of Jackson’s next Chief of Police, a search he said is nationwide.

“Jackson’s strength comes from the voices of its residents,” Horhn said. “As we look forward to our next chief of police, we want every corner of our city to be represented.”

The task force hopes the next chief will build hope and trust among the neighborhoods in Jackson.

During meetings, numerous older residents in attendance spoke of high crime in their neighborhoods and a lack of response from Jackson Police.

“I am scared,” said Wanda Sanford, a 76-year-old who lives off of Maddox Road, one of the city’s highest crime areas. “The next [police chief] needs to be tougher on crime, have more cops out. Not just riding in their cars.”

She said in “her time” officers walked a beat and knew residents.

Standing outside the Forest Hills High School, Sanford and a friend said the only time they see an officer outside of a patrol car is when they are making an arrest.

At a meeting at the Jackson Medical Mall, residents stressed the next police chief needs to respect the citizens of Jackson.

The neighborhood around the mall is filled with fast food restaurants, auto part retailers, liquor stores, and a large number of dilapidated buildings.

For 25-year-old Rodney Rowe, a self-described entrepreneur, the next police chief must stress to his officers to respect citizens. He said friends of his have been harassed by local law enforcement, from “unwarranted” pat downs to profiling.

“In order to get respect, you got to give respect,” he said, noting many of his generation do not respect law enforcement.

At other meetings, Jackson citizens stressed the city’s next top cop should to be local. Those coming from outside do not understand Jackson’s ways, they said.

At the meeting at Westside Community Center, citizens said the next police chief should be an internal candidate, or at least from Mississippi.

The search for a new chief started last month after former chief Joseph Wade resigned. Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones is serving as interim police chief until a replacement is hired.

This summer, Jackson claimed its homicides dipped by 43 percent in the first seven months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. However, several fatal shootings occurred throughout the summer. In August alone, there were five homicides and a total of 18 non-fatal shootings in Jackson.

This was at the forefront of Belhaven residents’ minds when they met the task force at the First Presbyterian Church this week.

Madeline Fraiser, a retired state worker, said when she bought her house in 2000, she never heard gun shots. Gun sounds still are not a common occurrence along her street, but she said she has heard ‘a few shots” during the summer.

“It does make you question the safety of our neighborhood,” she said, adding that she loves her neighborhood of brick houses with big front porches, plenty of parking and its location near to medical facilities and shops.

Another attendee, Mel Ruis, said public safety is a community responsibility. He wants the next police chief to know each community in Jackson, what makes the neighborhoods unique, and what the strengths are of each community.

“[The chief] cannot be a desk person. He needs to be out in the neighborhoods, listening to the citizens of Jackson,” Ruis said.

At the end of August, Mayor Horhn said he expected the search for the top cop to take 60 to 90 days.