The Starkville Board of Aldermen approved a request by the Starkville Police Department to apply for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Tuesday night. The grant would fund further efforts toward Hot Spot policing.
“Grants like this are critical to our operations,” SPD Public Information Officer Brandon Lovelady said. “It would be difficult to do all the things we do without grants like this.”
While SPD Officers patrolling on their regular shift cover Starkville as a whole, these funds allow police to focus patrol in Hot Spot areas, where crime is more likely to occur.
“If you’re getting calls three or four times in a row, you’re not going to be out in specific areas,” Lovelady explained. “This allows for you to put people in densely populated areas when events are going on in town so you still have (regular patrol) officers that can go wherever they need to go in town.”
Starkville’s defined Hot Spot area for crime has a northern limit of highway 182, a southern limit of Highway 12, an eastern limit of Highway 12 and a western limit of approximately Louisville Street. There are several high profile cases that have taken place in Starkville’s Hot Spot area over the past few years, specifically in the Cotton District area, such as the Cotton District murder case that led to the arrests of Jaylen Barker, Jamario Pippins, Tyler Harris and Brandon Sherrod for the death of 21-year-old Joseph Tillman in 2016. In a separate case, West Point native Terry Hill was charged with sexual battery, kidnapping and robbery in 2017 for a 2016 incident that occurred in the Cotton District.
SPD has applied for the TAG grant in previous years as well.
“Early on, when we got it one of the first times, we ordered the two Segways that we have that we use for special events,” Lovelady said. “Because you’re above everything, you can get around pretty quickly and, other than running out of battery, you don’t run out of breath when you’re trying to get somewhere in a hurry in a large group of people.”
Last year, SPD used the JAG grant funds for burglary prevention patrols. Lovelady said burglary prevention funds are helpful during the holidays when the student population leaves apartments unattended.
“There are certain times when those areas have a limited population due to holidays or whatever the reason may be,” Lovelady said. “This adds extra people to be out there to help combat these issues.”
For the 2019 grant, SPD applied for $20,000 of the grant to go toward personnel funds, which would fund overtime patrol in Starkville’s hot Spot area. A large portion of the patrol will be dedicated to these areas at night when a majority of the Starkville population is concentrated in one area.
In the application, SPD states its officers encountered an “increased population not seen before” in Starkville’s Hot Spot area during Mississippi State university’s 2017 football season. SPD estimates the nightlife population increases by 1,500 visitors after a winning game. The personnel funds will also be dedicated toward specific patrol during special events in Starkville, like Bulldog Bash and the Cotton District Arts Festival.
“During busier weekends in general, we’ll have additional officers out there and that’s a whole other chunk of money,” Lovelady said. “For any special event where you’re calling people in, that’s more money and it has to come from somewhere.”
This year SPD also applied for $7,246 of the grant to go toward video surveillance equipment, which will add an additional video camera to an already existing network of video surveillance in place in Starkville’s Hot Spot area.
“There are two (cameras) in the Cotton District and some downtown,” Lovelady said.
The cameras can be moved for special events if needed. For example, cameras were used during Bulldog Bash this year and last, which allowed a quick response within the crowd. In the application, SPD states current video surveillance has “proven to be valuable in the (arrest) of murder suspects, kidnappers and rapists in the past.”
SPD will learn if they received the grant in January.