JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Looking to address crime one door, and one step at a time - that’s the mission of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s community crime walks.
Saturday morning, Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters and members of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office completed their latest crime walk off of West Beaver Street and McDuff Avenue, just north of Jacksonville’s Lackawanna area.
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“It’s no secret we’ve had some violence over here,” Sheriff Waters highlighted Saturday. “We wanna make sure that the folks in this neighborhood know that we are here and we’re here to support everything that’s going on in this community.”
The walks serve as a chance for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to build trust with the community, helping its crime-solving abilities.
“The more we reach out and the more we answer the result, answer the issues that they bring to us, the more that they see us do that, the more trust that we earn and the more confidence that we earned and the more we hear from our community,” Sheriff Waters explained.
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However, while the neighborhood crime walks aim to improve JSO’s ability to serve their communities, AJ Jordan - a leader with the anti-crime community organization MAD DADS - said Saturday it’s also still on the residents to push the change they want to see.
“It’s not just the sheriff department. If you know these young men and young women are out here doing things, you got to make that call because we can curb it before it even happens,” Jordan explained. “So I encourage the community to be proactive, not reactive.”
Those looking to share concerns about crime in their community with police can also do so at the next Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office town hall event, scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the First Coast Christian School on Blanding Boulevard.
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