Mayor Indicted for Anti-Crime Tactics

But the mayor brushed aside those concerns, arguing that crime had been allowed to fester in the poverty-racked city of 180,000. In 2004, the year before his election, the city's crime rate was about 50% higher than the national average, according to FBI statistics. "The normal way of doing things hasn't yielded results," Melton said in a recent interview with The Times.

This month, an FBI spokesperson told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger that recent actions by city officials had raised concerns in the bureau, but would not say whether it was investigating Melton. FBI agents in Jackson were unavailable for comment Friday.

Peterson, the district attorney, said her office was continuing to investigate an incident that occurred a few hours after the house was destroyed, in which a bar owner was allegedly involved in an altercation with members of Melton's entourage.

Melton and the two policemen were booked and released on bond Friday, and will probably be arraigned next week, Peterson said. Jackson Police Chief Shirlene Anderson said in a statement Friday that the officers had been reassigned within the department.

Melton was roundly criticized by the City Council this week. The Clarion-Ledger reported that Councilman Leslie B. McLemore, who is black, called for Melton's resignation, comparing his sweeps to those of a white former mayor, Allen C. Thompson, who used a tank to intimidate civil rights activists in the 1960s.

richard.fausset@latimes.com