To the citizens of this community, I am Chief Milton Moore. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to serve as the Chief of Police for the City of Vicksburg.

At times, the daily responsibilities and encumbrances can be quite challenging. In the beginning, I was very hesitant because I knew the ups and downs associated with serving as the Chief of Police. I understood that no matter what, that people would cast blame on the police.

I’m from this community, born and raised, and I love my city. Vicksburg has a lot to offer and is constantly growing. Unfortunately, there are a handfull of individuals that are causing havoc in our city by discharging firearms and committing senseless acts of violence.

I want the community to know that crime will not be tolerated. There are a few unresolved crimes that have happened under my command, but rest assured the investigators are working around the clock to solve those crimes. The Mayor and Board of Aldermen are working with us, the police department, to get the extra tools we need to do our jobs, but sometimes that is not enough.

We need citizen cooperation. Citizen cooperation is important when investigators are working to solve a crime. Any information that an officer receives from a citizen in reference to a crime is greatly appreciated and sometimes very much needed.

In an effort to better serve the community, the Vicksburg Police Department is adding an additional $2,500 in reward money for Crime Stoppers. We want the citizens of Vicksburg to know that we are serious about solving crime. Providing additional reward money is another tool that we will be utilizing to implore individuals to come forward with information that will lead to an arrest.   

Secondly, we have adjusted the schedules of several officers to increase the number of officers patrolling the streets at night.

Thirdly, the city has purchased surveillance cameras that should be arriving very soon. The surveillance cameras will be placed in some high crime areas throughout the city. The surveillance cameras are another tool that the police department will be using to help combat and solve crime. 

Lastly, we are exploring the possibility of hiring part-time police officers to increase manpower throughout the city and to make available some full-time officers to perform other duties.

The police department is also looking to upgrade their body cameras. This upgrade would enable the officers’ body cameras to activate automatically, so Officers would not have to press a button to begin recording an incident. There have been times when officers have forgotten to activate recording on their body cameras because sometimes things do happen quickly. With this upgrade, we can eliminate that from occurring. 

We, as a police department, want to be transparent and do not need anything to prevent us from having any video beyond our control.

Again, I would like to thank the citizens of this community who support me and my staff. To the citizens that have doubts, just know that we are working very hard to serve this community and we will continue do everything we can to reduce crime and bring those who commit crime to justice.