Jax Undersheriff, City Council talk ‘recent killings and violent events’

A Tuesday morning Jacksonville City Council panel greeted Jacksonville Undersheriff Pat Ivey.

Ivey, discussing the state of crime in the city, noted “recent killings and violent events.”

Specifically, the killing of Tashawn Gallon in Durkeeville.

“We have had multiple juveniles killed this year … no one should feel OK when that happens to a 7 year old,” Ivey said, adding that “the location where that occurred isn’t typical. We’ve had challenges at that exact address many times in the past.”

“Historically, when you have a shooting … a crime that can be tied back to narcotics, historically it’s hard to draw a connection between the two.”

It is difficult to say, Ivey said, that “your drug dealing caused a murder of a child.”

Rental properties can be difficult to police, Ivey said, and one way forward might be putting more “teeth” on “nuisance violations” to “really hold these owners accountable.”

Ivey was asked about the impact of increased police officers on the street.

“Not reality to say you put a policeman on every corner,” Ivey said, but a policeman nearby would have created a “deterrent factor.”

Council VP Aaron Bowman got pushback from Ivey when calling for people to walk the beat in troubled areas.

“You have a congregation of people outside at 9:30 every night,” Bowman said. “We can’t go on like this as a community.

Despite these, calls for service are down 7 percent, Ivey said, with 58,000 calls for service year to date. 911 is down 17.1 percent.

“Predominately when the weather gets warmer, that number tends to rise,” Ivey said.

Crime, aside from the “violence issue,” is down.

Traffic citations: 8,207 to date, with 2,500 year to date; down 1 percent.