Above is an excerpt from the full length article found at the website of Mississippi paper, The Clarion Ledger: (see their website)

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060505/NEWS/605050367/1002/NEWS01

May 5, 2006

Groups question mayor's tactics

NAACP, American Civil Liberties Union members join list of critics

By Kelli This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
And By Kathleen Baydala
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FAST FACTS
Mayor Frank Melton's crime-fighting tactics have been questioned, mainly whether he has the authority to search citizens, homes or vehicles while on crime sweeps with Jackson police.
Record checks show Melton is not a certified police officer, though he said he is and will provide proof to Attorney General Jim Hood. Officials in Mississippi and Texas, the mayor's home states, said they have no record of a certification.

Melton has been seen carrying concealed weapons. He just received a concealed weapons permit Monday, according to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.

Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson said she submitted court documents and video of Melton on sweeps to Hood supporting allegations against Melton.

Members of the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday they believe Jackson Mayor Frank Melton has been infringing upon people's rights and targeting an uninformed segment of the community while on crime sweeps.

"We do agree that crime needs to be addressed in Jackson," Jackson NAACP President Gus McCoy said. "Police can do the job because they have been trained. Melton has not."

The attorney general's office is looking into accusations of whether Melton has been breaking local and state laws while fighting crime with Jackson police officers.

Melton has been accused of obtaining a false arrest warrant to hold someone in jail. And he might be impersonating a police officer by wearing police paraphernalia while assisting police in conducting warrantless searches of homes, cars and individuals.

"While I applaud his crime-fighting efforts, his tactics - they come into question," McCoy said.

The mayor fired back, saying that instead of criticizing him, the NAACP should join him in giving financial assistance to needy families in Jackson.

"My position is if the NAACP wants to help me, why don't they help me pay for these kids' funerals or pay for these kids to go to school," Melton said.

Since the 1980s, Melton has helped pay funeral expenses for families who lost children, usually to violence.

"That (paying for funerals) has nothing to do with him infringing on someone's rights," McCoy said. "One has nothing to do with the other."

Melton has been defending himself for several weeks. On Wednesday night, he used obscenities during a 40-minute live telephone interview on WMPR-90.1 FM.

On Thursday, he apologized. Melton said he got "fired up" when trying to address some of his critics.

"I want to publicly apologize about my language," he said. "When you're being backed up against the wall, there is so much a man can take. I am going to spend the next 30 days working on my language."

McCoy said the NAACP wants the mayor to uphold the same laws that civilians are expected to abide by. He added that if the leader is breaking the rules, those who are under him will think it's OK to break the rules.

Many people have called the ACLU with general questions about whether some of Melton's procedures were legal, president Nsombi Lambright said. The ACLU has not received any recent complaints.

"If you are approached by law enforcement who asks to search your vehicle, we tell them it's OK to say no," Lambright said.

Lambright said the crime sweeps seem to target low-income areas where people are not informed about their rights.

"It's our position that he's going into the same neighborhood over and over again. That's racial profiling," she said.

In coming weeks, the groups, along with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, plan to conduct "Know Your Rights" information sessions in some neighborhoods.

McCoy said Melton has been searching people along Bailey Avenue, Woodrow Wilson Avenue and Fortification Street - and questioned when he was going to hit Old Canton Road in northeast Jackson, a more affluent part of the city.

"That is not right," said Melton, citing sweeps on Ridgewood and Old Canton roads two weeks ago. He said he also has been in the Eastover neighborhood.

Melton said police go where the crime is, and the real problem is that young black men are being killed. He said he will continue to participate in crime sweeps.

Perry Robinson, president of the Georgetown Community Association, said the mayor is doing what people elected him to do: clean up crime. "I think he's doing an excellent job in making Jackson an excellent place to live," Robinson said.

Genny Seely, president of the Association of South Jackson Neighborhoods, said she didn't expect to see Melton in public acting like a police officer.

"At first I thought that he's really putting himself out there in harm's way," Seely said. "I think it may be time he pulls back some and the let the police chief do it and let him step back and do it from afar."