New legislation devoting $336K to fight against Jacksonville crime passes first step

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Family and friends are mourning the loss of Tayda Smith, a 28-year-old mother of four. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said she was gunned down at a Raceway gas station on Lem Turner Road on Sunday.

“My heart just breaks for that family and every time I hear of another tragedy, especially by gun,” Latasha Hobbs said. “It’s like another piece of my shattered heart just falls apart.”

Hobbs’ son, Maurice, was murdered on the Southside in 2017. JSO has not announced any suspects in the case.

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“I have to live with the pain of every bullet that my son felt. I live with that. It never goes away.”

Now Hobbs has devoted her life to fighting crime in her son’s name. The month of May started out with six shootings and a stabbing that left a total of four people dead.

Action News Jax searched through JSO’s transparency page and found a 25% increase in murders this year compared to the same time period in 2021. Of the 48 murders, only nine have been solved by an arrest.

“Every time one person is shot, my heart almost stops pumping. It’s so sad what is going on in Jacksonville right now,” Councilmember Reggie Gaffney said.

He introduced legislation with Council President Sam Newby that devotes $336,000 from their contingency funds to fight crime on the streets. It passed through the Finance Committee Tuesday, and Gaffney expects it will go through the full council next Tuesday.

“Get these dollars out to small not-for-profits, and maybe some for-profits, out there in the trenches. The ones in the trenches are the ones sometimes left out,” Gaffney said.

If approved, the money will go to Crime Stoppers to split between crime-fighting organizations. One of them is Arms of Mercy.

Pastor Quovadis Thomas said they fight crime in ways police can’t.

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“Hands-on because we’re in the community. We see the people on a day-to-day basis,” Thomas said. “With that money, we can perhaps curb some of the violence through education.”

Action News Jax reached out to JSO to learn what could be leading to the rise in murders. We are still waiting to hear back. Last week, Mayor Lenny Curry said that overall, violent crime is down.

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