JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Local leaders with ICARE gathered outside the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on Monday hoping to find a new solution to end violent crime in the city.
However, the group said they feel Sheriff T.K. Waters is ignoring them because he hasn’t met with them recently, despite efforts from the group to do so.
The group met with the sheriff last year.
At Monday’s press conference, ICARE and members of the community of all ages remembered the 124 people who were murdered in Jacksonville in 2023.
“I am here because if something is not done more people will die,” Rev. Willie Barnes, a pastor at St Paul AME church, said.
Barnes said he is a witness to the pain of violence.
“We are here today because violence has claimed the lives of our families, friends, neighbors and members of our communities,” Barnes said. “I am a pastor who has had to sit with families as they have buried loved ones due to violence in our community.”
One by one, they laid red carnations near the steps of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Memorial Building — honoring people who died from violence in the city.
ICARE said JSO started the Group Violence Intervention Program, but they feel more should be done. Now, they want Waters to have the program assessed by the National Network for Safe Communities. It would cost about $80,000.
MORE | Faith leaders, victim advocates want Jacksonville to change approach to violent crime
The sheriff has said in the past that they are working very hard to get criminals off the streets and also to do crime prevention but these groups meeting Monday said that’s not enough.
News4JAX has been present during the times Waters has visited neighborhoods for community walks and discussed violence in the city.
According to News4JAX records, there were:
- In 2023: 158 homicides and of those 127 murders
- In 2022: 167 homicides and of those 134 murders
ICARE said the program the city needs takes a “hope and hammer approach,” by providing resources to change lives but also providing stern consequences if violence doesn’t stop.
News4JAX reached out to JSO to hear their thoughts on ICARE’s request and answered with the following statement:
The National Network for Safe Communities, with which the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office still shares a close working relationship, looks to our agency’s Group Violence Intervention program as a model. In fact, the National Network for Safe Communities asked Jacksonville to host their yearly conference to demonstrate to other jurisdictions how to implement effective GVI programming. That conference was held in Jacksonville in November 2023 and was attended by groups from across the country.
ICARE has not made an appointment with the Sheriff’s executive assistant to set a formal meeting with the Sheriff in his office. Last year, the Sheriff did attend ICARE’s assembly. That did not prove to be a genuine conversation, as ICARE members would not allow the Sheriff to provide anything more than yes or no answers to their demands.
The Undersheriff would not accept a letter today on behalf of the Sheriff, as the Sheriff is not available today. Rather, the Undersheriff instructed ICARE members to contact the Sheriff’s executive assistant to formally schedule a meeting with the Sheriff.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office
As this group ended in prayer for today, they hope that there are new solutions to end violence in the city.
ICARE said they have invited Sheriff Waters to an event on April 15 and they hope he will attend.