Anti-crime initiative hits Gulfport. We’ll attack ‘violent crime with more justice.’
A crime-fighting initiative known as Project Eject, which focuses on combating violent crime, is expanding into Gulfport and Harrison County
U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst announced the expansion of the program during a press conference Wednesday at the Gulfport Police Department.
Gulfport Police Chief Chris Ryle, Mayor Billy Hewes, state and federal prosecutors and federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration joined Hurst for the announcement.
Hurst said he’s excited to announce the partnerships and expansion of the anti-crime fighting initiative first started in Jackson in 2017. The goal is to make Gulfport and surrounding communities in Harrison County “safer and more secure all of its citizens and all Mississippians.”
After the initiative went into effect in Jackson, Hurst said there was a 7% decrease in violent crime in 2018, a significant decrease in violent crime in a city that has experienced an uptick in homicides and other violent crime in recent years.
As a result, he said, fewer people are suffering now. In a year after the program started there, he said, the efforts in Jackson, for example, led to the prosecutions of over 100 offenders for a variety of crimes, such as drug and weapons offenses, drive-by shootings and other potentially fatal issues.
So, what that does that mean?
“Well, it means there were 108 fewer moms, dads, daughters, sons, brothers (and) sisters who did not become just another crime statistic or suffer a life-altering debilitating physical or mental injury” in Jackson because of the crime-fighting tools, Hurst said.
Hurst said the credit for an reduction in violent, such as what he predicts will be the case in Gulfport and surrounding Harrison County, goes to the men and women who put on a badge every day and hit the streets to prevent crime and save lives.
He’s confident Project Eject will have the same effect in Harrison County as it has in other cities, including in Moss Point, where he said the city has seen a decrease in homicides and other violent crime since the initiative began there.
Gulfport Police Chris Ryle pointed out that some violent crimes, like drive-by shootings and homicides, have increased in the city in the last year, and that’s one thing he’d like to see a significant decrease in as their efforts begin.
A part of the initiative is to have community meetings with residents to hear their concerns and work with them to encourage witnesses to violent crime to come forward with information in order to prosecute the cases.
“We are going to address the violent crime with more justice,” Hurst said.
Mayor Hewes said he threw his support behind the initiative as soon Hurst called him to talk about the partnership.
“Gulfport enjoys a tremendous quality of life,” Hewes said. “With the city our size, we’re going to have our share of challenges as well. So, the criminal element grows as we grow. And ... any time we can have some more folks come in and augment what we’re already doing and bring more pressure and get more bad guys off the streets and continuing to make Gulfport one of safest places around to live and to improve that quality of life, we’re always going to be about that.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 5:50 AM.
