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Memphis mayor Paul Young spheres crime summit in hopes to find solutions to reducing crime

City leaders from across 12 states met in Memphis to share ideas and methods of lowering crime nationwide.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Mayor Paul Young hosted nearly 20 Black mayors from cities across the country to talk about crime and public safety.

Thursday marked day two of the crime summit in which Young was at the forefront. He said during a press conference they discussed programs like "operation heart" in Durham, North Carolina, and "operation good" in Jackson, Mississippi. Young said both of those cities have found success with those programs. 

According to Young, "operation good" defined an eight-block area in Jackson. City leaders brought in resources, and they compared what other cities were doing to reduce crime. He said that method worked. 

"We know that we have been dealing with a lot of car thefts in our community," Young said. "It gives me ideas on how we can implement some of those things." 

Young said collectively the mayors who attended the crime summit represented 8.3 million people and each city helping the other will be a benefit nationwide. 

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said they as city leaders want to change the narrative. 

"We're going to more than just share the information and share the truth," he said. "We're going to press the truth." 

Many mayors shared publicly their support of "operation scarlet" in Charlotte, North Carolina. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said this was a program she automatically was impressed by. It's a program that busted car theft rings. 

"I immediately thought back to a friend of mine who had his Range Rover stolen in front of his house, and I thought maybe his car was a part of this ring because they never found it," Jones told ABC24. 

Young said during the presser the changes that are needed to make Memphians feel safe will not happen overnight. 

"People want the short-term solution," he said. "They wanna figure out how are we gonna stop crime today, and then we wanna figure out how to stop the crime in the future. In order to do that, there has to be an intense dialogue." 

According to Memphis Police, as of Thursday, there are 85 homicides this year, five less homicides from this time last year. 

However, of the 18 cities represented at the crime summit, Memphis has the highest number of homicides. It's homicide rate was up by more than 50 percent, while most other cities are seeing a 20 percent decrease. 

Durham, North Carolina, Mayor Leonardo Williams said they have believe investing in the youths, updating parks and boosting the economy can shift crime. 

"We understand the holistic approach to it, such as the economic impact, the better quality of life that is reducing crime," he said. 

Young did not share how soon they plan to implement some of those ideas or which ones he was most optimistic with being part of future solutions to Memphis' crime problem.

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