The mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, is calling for action after police officers in multiple jurisdictions continuously drop off homeless residents in his city, adding to their growing homeless population.
On Saturday, a Ridgeland police officer was caught on surveillance video dropping off a problematic homeless woman at a parking lot in Fondren, a Jackson neighborhood. The officer crossed city limits to bring the woman to Jackson. Later on, Jackson officers sent their crisis team to pick her up after complaints that she was harassing patrons at a nearby coffee shop. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba told WLBT that Saturday’s incident was the first time that an officer had been caught on camera abandoning a homeless person in his city.
“There have been reports that this has been going on for a long time. This is the first time we’ve gotten a video. This is evidence of what people have been seeing.” He later added, “And it’s not just one jurisdiction, but multiple jurisdictions that bring people to Jackson.”
On Monday, Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee confirmed that one of his officers picked up the woman. He explained to WLBT that she was only dropped off in Jackson because the other two locations where she requested to be dropped off were not safe. While he declined to say whether or not she was panhandling, he confirmed that ‘We got a complaint of her harassing customers. That was the complaint.”
“Apparently, this person has been a problem for some time. From what I’m gathering, she has been arrested before.” McGee added.
Ridgeland Cpl. Justin Crawford also confirmed that the woman was picked up by a Ridgeland officer earlier in the day. However, he also would not say what the woman was picked up for or whether she was panhandling at the time.
“He had dealt with the lady several times, and she requested to be dropped off (in Fondren),” Crawford said. “She had been in the area a few times, and he asked her if she needed a ride.”
Lumumba explained that dropping off homeless citizens in Jackson was “a violation of jurisdiction and a violation of civil liberties.”
Jackson, Mississippi, is home to at least 900 homeless residents. Lumumba believes that if cities insist on bringing vagrants to the city, they should care for them.
