STOKES WANTS JXN GAS STATIONS TO HAVE SECURITY, OTHER COUNCILMAN SAYS JUST PICK A FEW TO MAKE SAFE

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Jackson city leaders are questioning why they cannot push through ordinances that could make convenience store customers safer.

On Tuesday, Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes introduced an ordinance requiring businesses “associated with violence during hours of operation” to have security guards during operating hours.

“Too many locations in this city are just places where people get robbed, shot, hurt, and killed, and... most times, it’s in the same location,” Stokes said. “People come to me about the Texaco at Medgar Evers and Sunset. One kid a couple of years ago just graduated from high school. Two weeks later, another girl was shot... No security.”

“We need to make sure that if your business has a history of violence, you must have security during hours of operation.”

The ordinance will be rolled over at least until the next meeting, where the council could vote to approve it. However, it’s unclear if the ordinance could be passed or if it could withstand a challenge in court.

Council President Aaron Banks said Tuesday wasn’t the first time Stokes has introduced such an ordinance and said the previous measure didn’t stand up in court.

“What’s being said is that we can’t require the business to do something. I think if that’s going to be the legal issue, I think that we may have to look at establishing safe zone service stations, and really marketing and advertising, and [letting] people know that these areas are safe zones.”

It was not clear what legal challenge the council president was referring to.

That question aside, the city has attempted to mandate security measures at convenience stores numerous times in recent years.

In 2021, members approved an ordinance requiring 24-hour convenience stores to have security personnel between the hours of 12 a.m. and 5 a.m. The ordinance also required all other gas stations in the city to adopt security plans and file them with the city within 100 days of the rule’s passage.

It’s unclear if that ordinance was ever enforced.

Then, in April, the council approved a measure requiring store owners to install digital security cameras and tie them into the Jackson Police Department’s “Blue Light Camera network.” The security camera ordinance was slated to go into effect in May.

However, on May 20, the Institute for Justice sent a letter to city leaders calling for a repeal of the rule, saying it was “Orwellian.”

“The city council is turning Jackson into a police state and singling out certain businesses to pay for it,” Institute for Justice Attorney Jared McClain said in a statement. “The government’s desire for more surveillance cameras cannot come at the expense of people’s constitutional rights.”

Marsha Smith, the mother of a woman killed during a 2022 shooting at the Valero station on Cooper Road, rejects the Institute’s argument.

“Our violation as citizens, paying citizens... We’re being violated,” she told WLBT. “When you go into a public area, that’s not privacy. We need those videos these days and times. We need those security guards, so I’m angry about the pushback.”

Council Vice President Angelique Lee questioned why Jackson can’t require security cameras when other municipalities can, referring to a measure passed in Gluckstadt.

“We need to do everything we can to make sure Jackson is safe, especially at our convenience stores and gas stations where we’re stopping with our kids and we’re at our most vulnerable positions,” she said. “If it can pass in Gluckstadt, it should be able to pass in Jackson.”

In December 2022, the Gluckstadt mayor and Board of Aldermen adopted a statute requiring cameras for retail centers with at least 25 parking spaces and 2,000 square feet of building space.

Under that rule, the cameras are required to meet certain resolution requirements and to cover parking lots, and entry and exit points from businesses. Businesses also must post signage saying surveillance is in place. Mayor Walter Morrison says that the ordinance is still on the books and being enforced.

City Attorney Drew Martin told Lee that part of the reason Gluckstadt’s measure passes muster is because doesn’t mandate business owners to give police real-time access to the devices.

“[There are] some constitutional issues there in terms of what can be observed and seen at all times and what can’t,” he said. “And that’s what we’re trying to work through with our ordinance to make sure that we can thread the needle on security officers. If somebody can find an ordinance that has withheld a court challenge that requires local businesses to hire security officers... by all means, I want to see it.”