Uptick In Crime Has Sheriff Hosting Jamestown Meeting

Jamestown, CA — Tuolumne County Sheriff Jim Mele wants to hear from business leaders and residents in Jamestown about their concerns on crime.

Sheriff Mele is holding a Town Hall Meeting Wednesday night to talk about local issues. He explains, “They’re having some vandalism, issues with loitering in the businesses chasing some customers away and things like that. So we’re just going to go down and talk to the business owners and the community to see what kinds of solutions we can come up with. We’ve really tried to saturate the areas with deputies. In their free time what they been doing is going down to Jamestown and if there are issue they try to be more proactive than reactive.”

Communities also need to be involved in crime prevention, according to Sheriff Mele who suggests, “We’re going to go over if you see something say something, do you have cameras or do you not have cameras. What are the main issues? Are there drug issues in the alley ways? Well, if that is something then how can we help you curtail that activity? So, we want to make sure that we help them and are part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

Jamestown is not the only area in the county seeing crimes increase. Sheriff Mele reports that there has been a rash of thefts from Pinecrest up to Kennedy Meadows. Similar crimes are also hitting the greater Sonora area including East Sonora and the Phoenix Lake area. Sheriff Mele points to the states new crime definitions and changing punishments along with the opioid epidemic that’s not only hitting the county but the nation as well.

The meeting will be held at the Jamestown Community Hall located at 18250 Main Street. It is open to the public and begins at 6 p.m.