Leflore County Supervisor Anjuan Brown is calling for the community to work together to try to curb violence.
Brown
Brown, who represents District 3, kept quiet at the supervisors’ regular meeting Monday night when they approved setting aside $200,000 from the county’s yearly budget for the Sheriff’s Department. The money will be used to help Sheriff Ricky Banks hire more officers and assemble a crime task force.
However, Brown later said he wanted to speak out.
At the meeting, Robert Collins, the board’s president, mentioned sending people to talk to students in schools. His logic was to try and prevent kids from getting involved with gangs, since that’s who the police suggest is behind in a lot of the recent shootings.
Brown said the problem is communitywide.
“I think that would be a good thing,” Brown said, referring to visiting schools, “but the problem is not at the schools. We have a community problem.”
“Schools only have kids for a short period of time — just a few hours — and after that they’re in their communities.”
“I think it’s a good thing that we gave the sheriff more money. He needs more money to get officers on the street,” Brown said. “But that’s not going to solve the problem. If we gave all our money in our budget to the sheriff, it won’t solve the problem. It’ll help, but it won’t solve the total problem.”
He said that fortunately there have been no shootings at schools. The shootings have taken place on the streets in the neighborhoods, and that’s where he suggests his fellow supervisors and other elected officials go to tackle the problem.
“Go to your districts and the apartments there and demand peace,” he said. “Talk to the owners and parents and kids, and demand peace.”
Brown also suggested that when speaking to children, it’s important to stress that there are nonviolent ways to solve problems.
He’s worried that the violence will spread into more heavily populated areas.
“They (shoot each other) when they see each other. What’s going to happen with they see each other at Walmart? Or on Park Avenue at restaurants?” Brown asked.
He said that he’s proud of Schlater, which lies in his district.
“They literally run people out that cause trouble in their neighborhood. They don’t stand for any type of that activity down there, and I thank God for that,” he said.
He said that parents know what their kids are up to, and if they can’t control them, he urged them to seek help from law enforcement, from Life Help or elsewhere.
He wants the supervisors to speak with lawmakers to get legislation passed to “put some teeth” in their efforts to curtail violence. Something such as a more serious curfew, more law enforcement or outside help would start the task of addressing the issue, he said.
“You can give the Sheriff’s Department an army, and it’s not going to do it,” he said. “Presence can deter crime, but we have a problem internally.”
•Contact Kerrigan Herret at 581-7233 or kherret@
gwcommonwealth.com.
