Mayor Frank Melton will enter a courtroom this week for the third time in two years to face criminal charges arising from his cowboy crime-fighting style.
This time, he’ll face the federal government and charges that could land him in prison for up to 25 years.
While Melton’s reputation for unorthodox behavior goes back to his days as a television commentator, as mayor he sounded an early warning in his July 4, 2005, inaugural ad-dress.
“We will deal with crime in a way you have never seen before,” he said.
Over the next 14 months, Melton, flanked by his armed police bodyguards, cruised the city’s streets in the Jackson Police Department’s Mobile Command Unit, stopped traffic to conduct impromptu searches for weapons or drugs, and carried out crusades against hoodlums, suspected and actual.
Magnolia Tribune
