JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There were 125 homicides last year in the city of Jacksonville, according to data from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. That's the lowest number of homicides in five years.
Yet, that is of little comfort to the family of 17-year-old Jacori Jones, who was killed in October on Jacksonville’s Northside.
“Everyone’s still not really talking and that what’s one thing we need to change, you know, we got to speak up because if you don’t then more children are going to die in the same neighborhood," Jacori's mother Courtney Jones said.
Jones was one of the youngest of the 125 homicides in 2021. The numbers is down 30% from 2020, where 178 homicides occurred. Last year contributes to a grime total of 1,391 deaths over last 10 years, according to ongoing data collected by the Florida Times-Union.
“It doesn’t seem like a decrease, it really doesn’," Courtney Jones said. 'We still have a very long way to go."
Data from the Jacksonville Sheriff Office shows 2021 had the lowest homicide rate in the last five years, something the Fraternal Order of Police attributes to JSO crime units, state gun targeting programs and community work.
“The showing the efforts that they’ve put in over the last couple years are starting to pay off, pay dividends," Fraternal Order of Police President Steven Zona said. "I think we need to continue down that road as far as law enforcement concerned but we have wonderful support here from the Jacksonville community so all those things combined over time are starting to pay off and make this difference."
Community groups like MAD DADS are putting their focus on youth programs and employment programs with the goal of preventing crime before it starts.
“JSO has done a better job. They have been reaching out to the community constantly saying that we need to do something about this, but the community has got to take a bigger role," MAD DADS President Donal Foy said. "We have got to as a community say enough is enough and we’re going to step forward and tell what we know.”
Due to time gaps in the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office data portal, numbers are subject to change. A statement from JSO states;
"Sheriff Williams, as is typical, is planning on talking 2021 numbers following the new year. This will be scheduled as soon as all of the data has been collected and analyzed to ensure an accurate representation of how the year compared to previous year’s data."