I’ve come to the decision that the Jackson Police Department is the dumbest police force in the United States. I’d rather have the crew from Reno 911 than the pieces of work we’ve got running things now. Here’s why…

First a little back story… I work at a car dealership here in Jackson Mississippi doing graphic design work and internet sales. A couple days ago we had a Lincoln LS with another car dealership’s drive-out tag cruising around the parking lot. It was silver with completely blacked out tinted windows. A few salesmen tried to stop him and offer him assistance but he refused to stop and wouldn’t roll down his window. Nobody thought much of it because salesmen get rejected all the time with “no we’re just looking thanks” and other things like that.  According to surveillance footage we watched later, the LS drove around the lot for almost 15 minutes stopping once to get out and get something out of the trunk (they were too far away from the camera for us to be able to see what it was).

In the mean time a transport truck was unloading trucks onto our lot and guys from our “get-ready” department were taking them as they came off the truck and taking them back and washing them and getting them ready to put on the lot. A passenger gets out of the LS and walks up to a truck, gets in it, and drives off the lot with the LS in close pursuit.

The very next day we get a call from someone who had heard we’d had a truck stolen saying that it was parked in the parking lot of a hotel literally 200 yards across the interstate (we had shingles from the hotel in the side of our building after the last big tornado). They had the balls to not only steal a truck in broad daylight, but to stay in a hotel only 200 yards away…By the time a couple managers made it over there to block it in and call the police – it was gone. The now-owners must’ve seen someone get out and look at the truck, so they took it and bolted.

This morning our service manager drove by the hotel on his way to work and saw a silver Lincoln LS (just like the one in our surveillance video) backed into a parking spot. He checked and it even had a drive-out tag like in the video. He blocked it in with his truck and called JPD. They showed up with 3 squad cars and run the LS’s VIN and sure enough it’s stolen too. They said “ok then, well since this one’s stolen too we’re just going to tow it in.” Our service manager goes “You don’t want to see who comes out and gets in it?” The officer goes “no, we’re just gonna tow it in.” The manager says “but they’re staying in this hotel right here…and they still have our truck…” The officer responds “It’s not like we can just go knocking on every single door…” (it’s at most a 50-room “motel”). So they towed the LS… no fingerprinting, no checking with the front desk to see what rooms were being used, nothing…

Why the hell not?… That’s your job as a police officer, right? Protect me and my property from other people who might infringe on my right to own it. Thanks to these brilliant police officers we still do not have our truck back and they’re still at large… chances are they’ll attempt to steal yet another vehicle from our lot. What happens when we see them and try to stop them next time and someone gets run over or even shot?

Their car is right there and the people who stole it are literally 10 feet away in their hotel room…only in Jackson Mississippi would you find such a brilliant police force. If they saw an open crate of guns in my driveway they’d simply confiscate them and not even bother knocking on my door? I don’t think so – this is no different…

This wouldn’t be so bad (because I’ve been told this has happened to at least 5 other people who I’ve told this story to) if Police Chief McMillin hadn’t had his wife’s car in our service department and when he wasn’t satisfied with the time it took to fix it’s transmission – he badmouthed our dealership to everyone he knew. It’s our turn, McMillin – we not only as a business, but as a collective group of individuals, are all completely dissatisfied with your force and the way you choose to handle crime in this city that already has a reputation for being filled with it and run by a corrupt police department.