Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry wants to divert emergency funds from the crime-prevention Jacksonville Journey program to beef up police presence in areas with high violent crime rates.
On Thursday, at the Journey committee’s first meeting since Curry took office, the mayor expressed sorrow at the increasing murder rate in some of the city’s neighborhoods.
“What can we do right now with some of these funds to make sure people are safe? To make sure they know we care about them? I’ve asked them to take some money, work with the sheriff’s office, put it in for some overtime for some police officers, so the sheriff can flood the hotspots — the areas where this stuff is happening — and make sure people know that we care about them,” he says.
Curry says it’s up to the Jax Journey committee how much money they will allow to be diverted. The board’s chair is recommending $500,000.
Curry also says the funding shift would be temporary.
