JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As Jacksonville police worked Monday to solve a multiple shooting on the Northside, city leaders looked at the bigger picture of crime around Jacksonville and how to fight it.
Some of it comes down to dollars and cents.
City Council has been addressing the issues of crime and blight, and council members said with the cuts in the budget, the sheriff did not get the new officers he requested.
Sheriff John Rutherford has said crime in Jacksonville will continue to increase as long as he cannot hire new officers.
Rutherford is deciding whether to accept a new federal grant that will allow for some additional officers.
City Council members like Warren Jones, whose district covers parts of Northwest Jacksonville, said something has to change.
"It does not seem we are really making a difference with the murder rate," Jones said. "I think we are making some progress with the blight and changing that environment. But as far as the overall murder rate, getting the community engagement is important to reducing that. We can't keep reducing law enforcement and prevention and intervention programs and expect the murder rate to go down."
There have been 88 homicides so far this year, and at least 71 of those are classified as murders. About this time last year, the statistics were similar: 87 homicides with 71 murders.
In 2012, for the entire year, Jacksonville had 108 homicides with 93 murders and in 2011 there were 90 homicides with 72 murders.
The lower numbers in 2011 and 2012, according to Jones and Rutherford, came when the city took a major stance on crime with the Jacksonville Journey, a city-wide effort to bring down crime.
"We demonstrated clearly how to reduce the overall murder rate in Jacksonville through the Journey process," Jones said. "We added more police officers. We had funding for prevention programs to go after this problem from all angles. We reduced funding and removed some of the police officers, so what we are getting is clearly reflected in the funding of our budget."
The City Council is beginning to address the issue by looking at blight in the northwest area, which not only includes crime, but housing and other problems.