Crime statistics for the City of Vicksburg for August show drops in most major categories from July; however, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said he is still concerned about the number of auto burglaries across the city.

Auto burglaries are defined by vehicles that are broken into for the purpose of stealing items inside. In July, nine burglaries were reported from unsecured vehicles and four from secured vehicles. August saw a total of eight burglaries from unsecured vehicles and three from secured automobiles. 

“If you look at auto burglaries, it may be the lack of patrolling,” Flaggs said. “We’ve got to do a better job of patrolling the neighborhoods, especially the sites where there are no cameras.”

Auto burglaries dropped from 13 reported incidents in July to 11 in August, a decrease of 15%, but Flaggs said utilizing city cameras and increasing patrols should bring that number down even further. 

“That’s where they are hitting us at,” Flaggs said. “At the same time, I don’t see how they are bypassing the cameras. We’re spending too much money on the camera system for it not to be reliable.”

But Vicksburg Chief of Police Penny Jones said there is more at play than simply patrolling neighborhoods and utilizing city cameras.

“I did a ‘Lock It or Lose It’ video, I think it was last year, and I can only stress that same thing again,” Jones said. “Keep your vehicles locked. The most important thing is people are out looking for guns, and that’s what they’ve been taking out of vehicles.”

Jones said, whether it is burglars taking advantage of unlocked vehicles, or new techniques used to not leave the typical signs of a break-in behind, the methods make it next to impossible for patrols units to notice vehicles have been burglarized after the fact, creating a vicious cycle when firearms are involved.

“A lot of people leave their vehicles unlocked and this is the end result of it,” she said. “People take the guns and crimes continue to happen because weapons are being taken. And we have been told, like with the Ford F-150s, there is a device they are using that unlocks the door from underneath and you can’t even tell someone has been inside the vehicle. We don’t know what’s inside a person’s vehicle and, even though we have passed by there several times, we don’t know; you can’t even tell someone has been inside them, because they didn’t necessarily break in. And (the owners) don’t know until they get in the vehicle the next morning.”

As for the cameras, commonly referred to as NOLA cameras, Jones said the city’s system is still a work in progress, now with a command center that is manned, but is not yet a 24-hour center. Jones said the city is continuing to add cameras in both neighborhoods and businesses to the city’s system, adding officials are working with Entergy, but often have to wait until manpower is available. 

“We still have cameras that we have not installed,” she said. “One of our biggest issues is, with Entergy, we are at their mercy. We still have work that needs to be done, we just have to wait on them. So, as many places as we can get the NOLA cameras set up, that’s what we’re doing.”

Jones said anyone at either a business or in a neighborhood that is interested in becoming part of the NOLA camera system can contact the Vicksburg Police Department for instruction by calling 601-636-2511.

“I can link them to the right person,” Jones said. “Places like Marion Park have the NOLA camera system set up and we’re watching it.”

Other statistics reported for August included a 100% drop in murder, from 1 in July to none in August; a 50% drop in aggravated assault, from four in July to two in August; a 36% drop in residential burglary, from 11 in July to seven in August; a 150% increase in auto theft, from two in July to five in August; a 69% increase in domestic violence incidents, from 16 in July to 27 in August; and a jump in business burglary from none in July to four in August. 

Other categories with no data to report – meaning no incidents were reported in either month – include manslaughter, rape, robbery, carjacking and kidnapping.