Jackson is one of four cities that could get tens of millions of dollars under a new U.S. Department of Justice grant.
City officials have said the federal money would be used to rebuild the city’s forensic laboratory, hire more officers and expand surveillance of violent crime, including using artificial intelligence to track potential criminals.
The Trump administration announced Friday that it has awarded its new Model Cities Initiative grant to Mississippi’s capital city and three others. The Jackson Police Department had applied for an award of up to $125 million over three years.
Next, the Jackson City Council will have to vote whether to accept the money. The new initiative has proved controversial in other Democratic-led cities, including Charlotte and New Orleans, as the grant requires municipalities to cooperate with certain Trump administration priorities, including immigration enforcement and a ban on people sleeping in public.
But in Jackson, which has some of the highest homicide rates in the nation and recently dealt with budget cuts, at least one council member said that JPD needs the money too much to turn the grant down.
“I hope they get it because we’re going to reduce their budget,” Ward 2 Council Member Tina Clay told Mississippi Today before the grant was awarded.
“I’m not concerned about anything other than them (JPD) solving crimes and reducing the crime rate,” she added. “I don’t care what style they use as long as it’s legal and ethical, and they get the results we need.”
The budget issue is one reason Jackson’s new police chief, RaShall Brackney, has prioritized pursuing federal funding.
Unlike other federal law enforcement grants, the Model Cities Initiative will be administered through a “cooperative agreement,” giving the DOJ a more active role in implementation.
The city’s grant application was supported by letters from state and local law enforcement officials, including Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones, then-Capitol Police Chief Bo Luckey, Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch.
Mayor John Horhn also wrote a letter of support in which he mischaracterized the city’s progress in reducing homicides.
“Under the leadership of Chief Brackney and the dedicated men and women of the Jackson Police Department, we have seen meaningful reductions in homicides and violent crimes,” Horhn wrote.
The letter presented to the city council was dated June 10. On that day, WLBT’s Homicide Tracker showed that Jackson had seen 32 homicides, equal to the number it had seen by that date last year.
By Aug. 3, the date on the letter that Horhn submitted to the federal government, Jackson’s homicides had outpaced last year.
In an interview earlier this week, Horhn said he was not aware of the inaccuracy until a reporter brought it to his attention.
Jackson is poised to receive the grant alongside Baton Rouge, St. Louis and Jacksonville, Fla.
JPD proposed to use most of the $125 million to create a specialized gun-crimes unit focused on “repeat shooters,” expanding its network of cameras housed at the Real Time Command Center, and creating a database that would link 911 calls to the addresses of burned-out homes, illegal dumping sites and other code enforcement complaints.
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