By Hardy Crunk
mnsnews@yahoo.com
In 2001 Madison was the safest city in
Mississippi of the 31 cities with a population
of 10,000 or more who reported their felony
crime statistics to the FBI, but that isn't good
enough for Police Chief Gene Waldrop, who
says "any crime is bad."
"Every day we strive to obtain a zero
crime rate," Waldrop said. "I congratulate
the citizens of Madison and the members of
the Madison Police Department for a successful
partnership that is working to keep
crime to a minimum and the City a safe and
wholesome environment to raise a family or
retire."
There were 11.8 felony crimes per 1,000
persons in Madison in 2001, the lowest rate
in the state. The second safest city in
Mississippi was Brandon with 19.8 felony
crimes per 1,000 persons. The other metroarea
cities reporting crime statistics to the
FBI were Pearl with 37.1 per 1,000 persons,
Ridgeland with 51.3
per 1,000 persons,
and Jackson with
100.4 per 1,000
persons. Statewide,
there were 41.85
felony crimes per
1,000 persons.
L a r c e n i e s
accounted for 81
percent of the
felony crimes in
Madison in 2001,
and most of those, Waldrop said, were committed
by criminals that do not live in the
City of Madison.
The vast majority of larcenies in Madison
are thefts from carports, unsecured
garages, yards, and construction sites.
"Because Madison is a safe city, many
residents get a little complacent and forget
to secure their garages and lock their cars,"
Waldrop said. "Thieves usually look for
small items that are easy to pawn."
Of the 174 felony crimes committed in
Madison in 2001, there were 141 larcenies,
23 burglaries, five aggravated assaults, two
motor-vehicle thefts, and one forcible rape.
There has not been a murder in Madison
during the more than 10 years Waldrop has
served as police chief.
Waldrop credited Madison's low crime
rate to two factors: cooperative citizens who
provide good assistance to the police and
well-qualified, highly-visible law enforcement
personnel.
"We are utilizing a combination of citizen
programs and proactive police presence to
keep crime to a minimum level," Waldrop
said. "Citizen input and participation have
been a major component of the success of
anti-crime efforts in the City of Madison."
In this age of sue-happy lawyers, the
Madison Police Department has not had a
successful lawsuit against it during
Waldrop's tenure as police chief, a fact he
partially credits to the City of Madison's high
standards for its law enforcement personnel.
"Madison police officers are required to
have 60 hours of college credit or a twoyear
college degree," Waldrop explained.
"Most of our officers have a four-year
degree. One has a master's degree and
two others are working on master's."
"Madison police officers deal with folks in
a professional and courteous manner,"
Waldrop said. "The badge weighs six
ounces, not six pounds. Our police officers
are not badge heavy."
Waldrop said the Madison Police
Department is constantly evaluating the
services it provides.
"We're in the people business," he said.
"We have to continually look at the product
we deliver to our clients, who, of course, are
the citizens of Madison. We want to deliver
the best possible product."
The Madison Police Department has a
five-year strategic plan of improvement that
is regularly updated. It consists of a shortterm
plan covering the immediate 18
months and a long-term plan for the next
five years.
One recent improvement to the police
department that came about as a result of
strategic planning was the addition of two
motorcycles for the traffic division. Waldrop
said the need for the motorcycles was identified
as part of the strategic plan for how to
deal with problems arising from the large
amount of present and future road construction
in Madison.
"We needed to be able to get to accident
scenes in a hurry despite the traffic caused
by road construction," he said. "They are
working great."
The Madison Police Department is
authorized to have 34 sworn police officers,
though it is often below that level because,
Waldrop said, police officers that meet
Madison's high standards are hard to find.
Just as other departments in the City do,
Madison's police department does more
with less. Its 34 authorized police officers is
approximately 2.3 police officers per 1,000
persons. The national average is 2.5 officers
per 1,000 persons while the
Southeastern average is 2.8. per 1,000 persons.
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