Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell and the city held another Natchez Community Prayer Service on Sunday, this time at Holy Family Catholic Church.

The city’s murder rate has dropped significantly since last year when 12 people were murdered in Natchez and two others were murdered in Adams County.

This year, the city has recorded two homicides, when folk artist James Henry Williams was shot to death on Jan. 24, and when 4-year-old Armani Hill died of child abuse.

Suspects have been arrested in both of those cases.

The drop in the murder rate, I believe, can be attributed to the actions, up to and including the prayer services, of city and county officials.

First off, the city last year implemented a pay raise for Natchez Police officers, with a starting pay rate of $15.50 per hour, which puts the city on a more competitive footing with what surrounding communities pay entry level police officers.

Therefore, the city has more police officers on the ground and they are able to respond and patrol more effectively.

Secondly, the city has worked with Project NOLA and management of apartment complexes to install surveillance cameras in key spots throughout the city and on the grounds of the apartment complexes where many of last year’s murders took place.

Thirdly, city and county law enforcement are working more closely together to patrol and share information to help prevent crimes.

That said, Natchez and Adams County are still experiencing violent crimes with shootings occurring on a somewhat regular basis.

Just last Friday night, a domestic incident resulted in the shooting death of a man and the attempted murder of his girlfriend who was shot multiple times. Adams County officials worked swiftly to arrest a suspect in that case.

The week before that, someone shot multiple victims at the Holiday Apartments. No one has been arrested in that case yet, despite an intense investigative effort on the part of both the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and the Natchez Police Department.

The Holiday Apartments shooting incident was preceded by a couple of shootings in the city that police said they believed to have been retaliatory in nature.

Despite multiple victims in those shootings, no one has died as of this writing. Perhaps that is a testament to the power of prayer.

Still hanging over the community, too, are six of last year’s murders that remain open, meaning no one has been arrested or charged in the cases.

That is potentially six murderers on the loose in our community.

Several factors go into law enforcement not being able to make arrests in those cases, not the least of which is that the state crime lab is over booked and under funded with not only ballistics cases but also with autopsy cases.

Also hindering efforts to solve crimes are some witnesses and victims’ family members who for whatever reason are unwilling to cooperate with law enforcement.

Prayer can’t hurt.

If nothing else, quarterly prayer services remind us that we each have a role to play in helping our community heal and overcome these problems, whether it be by serving as a witness to crimes we see or by sharing information about potential crimes or just by the way we treat our fellow man.

I’m proud that our community has had some success with a drop in the murder rate so far this year, but we should not become complacent

We still have a long way to go.

Scott Hawkins is editor of The Natchez Democrat. Reach him at 601-445-3540 or scott.hawkins@natchezdemocrat.com.