JACKSON, MISS– After a battle over who would be paying for Jackson Police to work the Mississippi State Fair, the city and the State Fair Commission have reached an agreement.
Both parties will be responsible for providing Jackson police officers to work the state fair. The city of Jackson will provide 10 officers, while the state fair commission will be allowed to contract 10 off-duty Jackson police officers.
All officers will have arresting power with use of a police car. The 10 Jackson officers that will be paid by the city will be used during their normal 8 hour shifts; meaning there is no overtime charge for those officers. The other officers will be off-duty officers, paid by the commission, but selected by the city of Jackson.
This however, only solves the problem for the 2015 State Fair. Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Cindy Hyde-Smith says the problem now goes to the state legislature. In the upcoming legislative session, state lawmakers will have to grant the State Fair Commission enough money to pay the city of Jackson for officers for the state fair and the Dixie National Rodeo.
“We can’t make the legislators do anything,” says Hyde-Smith, “but we can show them the facts.”
Providing funding for future use of Jackson police officers is something that Chief Lee Vance says he’s excited about, especially when it comes to his patrolmen having to work overtime during big events.
There will only be 20 Jackson officers total that will work the fair this year, and while the agreement was reached just the day before, it still doesn’t match the security presence in the past.
“Last year there were 70 officers,” says Chief Vance.
Hyde-Smith says other state agencies are stepping up to fulfill the gaps in police presence.
“They’ll be out there, maybe in different uniforms, but they’ll be out there,” says Hyde-Smith, “it’s going to be okay. We’re going to have a safe fair.”
Here’s audio from the press conference:
