MOBIE, Ala. (WALA)- James Dixon Jr has decided to stay with the CDC instead of becoming mobile’s new Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator. It’s a decision he made shortly after being approved by the city council last month.
“Whenever someone is a top candidate for a job that you think they can do well it’s always somewhat a surprise but again we respect his decision to stay where he was because of the stability and the job that he had,” said Public Safety Director Lawrence Battiste.
The city has now named Joshua Jones as the new choice for the job. Public Safety Director Lawrence Battiste says Jones spent six years as a Mobile police officer before spending the next three years with the secret service.
“When he was here he played an intricate part in setting up strategic initiatives to begin with,” said Battiste.
Some of those initiatives include helping to implement MPD’s “you still have a choice program” which was designed to help youth avoid involvement in drugs, crime, and other illegal activity. He was also involved with the Gang Resistance and Education Training program and was a supervisor for the MPD Family Intervention Team.
“A very well respected young man for what he did with us as a law enforcement officer certainly had the respect of people he worked with day in and day out and he’s invested in the community,” added Battiste. “He’s back home”
His primary role as Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator will be to build relationships with the Mobile County Public School System, Strickland Youth Center, and the Mobile County Health Department to help identify potential offenders before a crime happens. Jones’ hiring is part of operation echo stop which is the city of mobile’s effort to prevent gun violence.
“He’s got a daunting task ahead of him, but his job by itself does not solve the issue of violence that we have in our community. He’s one component,” added Battiste.
But an important component as this will help make sure important connections are being made throughout the community.
“Do we need to connect to the parents of two or three individuals who are beefing with each other? That’s the role of a youth violence coordinator,” said Battiste.
A vote on Joshua Jones’ appointment as Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator is expected to take place during next week’s city council meeting.
