JPD plans to start releasing crime stats to public after nearly four-year hiatus [Video]

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Nearly four years after Jackson’s police department stopped releasing crime statistics to the public, the city’s top cop says they plan to begin doing that again within the next six weeks.

Chief Joseph Wade said JPD has been working with a new company that helps compile and track this crime data to help the department identify trends and deploy resources.

Wade did not speak to the controversy surrounding the ending of those monthly public reports in July 2020, which are still listed on the city’s website.

In 2019, 3 On Your Side discovered errors in JPD’s then-weekly crime stat compilations, which led JPD to scrap the way it tracked homicides and robberies entirely.

Four years after that, the department’s former chief, James Davis, misled city council members when he said crime was dropping three times more than it actually was.

“It’s something that I inherited. But …