SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced new crimefighting initiatives on Thursday after a lengthy summit with legislators and other community leaders.
“We are absolutely committed to prosecuting repeat violent offenders,” he said. “We all recognize we have a serious crime problem. We have a crime crisis, and it requires an all-hands-on-deck approach to handle the problem."
Some of the key priorities that have emerged include taking action on high-risk offenders before they act again and preventing crime through environmental design by adding streetlights and clearing vacant lots.
Another priority includes added supervision throughout the criminal process, making sure people get the services they need such as job placement and mental health counseling to ensure they do not reoffend.
“All of these initiatives we're talking about are evidence based. They're all based on data and studies from other jurisdictions that have tried this and have shown effects, either reduced crime or reduced repeat offender rates or things of that nature,” Mulroy said.
Mulroy described the meetings as tense and featuring different perspectives from many, such as Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis.
Activist Josh Adams, with community organization Memphis for All, supports intervention tactics like career services and mental health support as an important step in crime reduction, but he can’t get behind other steps announced.
“That’s a lot of money. We've tried punitive measures before and they haven't worked,” he said. “Cut off the cause of crime rather than responding with longer sentences or responding with more police presence.”
Mulroy said these initiatives are going to be regularly evaluated and that there's more coming as they try to combat rising crime.