The Oxford Police Department conducted a prostitution sting operation in Lafayette County on Friday night, concluding a weekend full of increased operation for the department.
Late Friday night, OPD ran a joint prostitution sting in conjunction with Lafayette County Metro Narcotics, the FBI, and the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office. Three were arrested for misdemeanor prostitution and one was arrested for felony promotion of prostitution.
According to a department press release on Saturday, they began investigations into a series of criminal events in the winter of 2014. The investigations unveiled a connection between the criminal events and electronic advertisements for prostitution. The names of the suspects and location of the crime scene have not been released.
OPD also responded to an armed robbery on North Lamar on the Square Thursday night. The armed robbery occurred at approximately 9 p.m. According to Oxford Police Chief Joey East, both the victim and the suspect were in a vehicle when the crime occurred, and the victim managed to exit the vehicle near Proud Larry’s.
The suspect fled the scene, but was later identified from eyewitness and victim reports according to East. A weapon was recovered at the scene, but no shots were fired. Details on the weapon and the name of the suspect have not been released.
Though average response time to an incident takes up to around three minutes, East said the response time to the crime was within seconds. East said the department did not increase officer presence on the Square after the incident.
According to East, there are 64 full-time officers in the department. All were on schedule to work over the weekend in response to students returning to Oxford to start classes on Monday.
“What we did was when we put the plan together for this weekend, we basically maxed out everyone we had,” East said.
“What we want is behavioral expectations,” East said. “There’s a lot of new people coming into Oxford and we want to set the right example.”
East said the department feels like having more officers on the Square will help people make better choices and prevent future crimes.
“Those things are not just isolated events,” East said. “They trickle and cause problems down the road. Incidents are going to happen. We will respond.”
The University Police Department was also working with the department to prevent crimes on campus said Oxford Police Chief Joey East and University Police Chief Tim Potts.
East said the department understands the university officers may not work off campus, but still strives to communicate with them about what is happening in the rest of the city.
“We extend our hands to each other,” East said.
According to Potts, the university is also using all of its officers to monitor the campus at this time.
“During this time of the year, we restrict time off for our officers, because it’s so busy with so many events taking place and kids moving back,” Potts said.
In response to the armed robbery on Thursday, Potts said, “Hopefully that was a one-time event and doesn’t happen again.”
Last year over 600 DUIs were issued in Oxford and around 160 burglaries were reported. Both departments are working to lower the numbers of DUIs and other crimes in Oxford over the next year.
“We’re not up there trying to make it difficult for anyone. We’re trying to make it safer for everyone,” East said. “At the end of the night, when you come home safe, you’re gonna know and we’re gonna know we did what we were supposed to do.”
