The Jacksonville sheriff’s office held its first town hall of the year. Sheriff T.K. Waters shared the department’s priorities and progress.

He heard directly from neighbors who shared their concerns. Traffic was one of the big topics there Tuesday tonight.

Many people voiced concerns about speeding and congestion in their community.

Waters and his team also addressed concerns about youth violence and drug activity and plans to move the city jail.

It was a packed room Tuesday night as residents in Jacksonville’s District 6 heard directly from Waters on how his agency is addressing public safety concerns.

“The importance of having these meetings face to face is to make sure your concerns are addressed,” said Sheriff Waters.

From 2023 to 2024, JSO said Jacksonville saw a 53.9% drop in murders, the biggest drop in years.

Waters credits proactive policing, community engagement and youth violence intervention strategies.

“Maybe we can stop them, maybe we can get them to change their direction and find something different to do with their lives so they can survive, so they don’t take someone else’s life and find themselves in prison for the rest of their lives,” said Waters.

An ongoing concern already being addressed by the sheriff’s office is traffic.

JSO is expanding its traffic enforcement unit in the future, growing from 34 traffic officers to 50 and going from 17 motor officers to 30.

Waters also addressed building a new jail in a new location, because he says the current jail is no longer sustainable.

“It has to get done at some point. We’re looking at a lot of different ways to get it done,” he said. “Our city council is involved, the mayor’s office is involved. It’s not a T.K. Waters project it’s a project that the city’s gonna have to undertake.”

As for the decline in murders and increase in cases solved, Sheriff Waters said it couldn’t have happened without the community’s help.

“This year our city has risen above the flawed perception that  it is an epicenter of violent crime, because it is not,” said Sheriff Waters.

The next JSO town hall meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 15th in district 5 at Trinity Baptist church on Hammond boulevard.