MEMPHIS, Tenn. — "No tolerance for the chaos we have seen on our streets." That's the message Memphis Mayor Paul Young had during a news conference Thursday on public safety in the city.
Young was joined by leaders from Memphis Police, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, the Juvenile courts, and Shelby County and Tennessee government. He said before the news conference, the Public Safety Task Force - which includes local, state, and federal representatives, met and discussed initiatives and ideas to tackle the crime and violence in Memphis.
Young said the efforts make up a "pandemic-like response" to the crime.
"We can focus strategically on how we're going to reduce crime and violence in our community. Today is the first step in doing that," said the new mayor. "We are on a mission to support our city. We are on a mission to support the citizens of this community. We hear our citizens loud and clear. They want to see action."
"We also want to keep the urgency high," Young continued. "We are at a point right now, where we're in a tipping point for our community. We are either going to elevate or we are not and my firm belief is we will elevate, and how we will do it is by being unified."
Young said the following are some of the initiatives discussed during the Task Force meeting Thursday morning.
- MPD Chief CJ Davis: A repeat offender task force to focus on the 20% of offenders committing 80% of the crime, and feature data-driven enforcement.
- Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy: A push to fast-track violent crimes in the justice system, to bring those in the most violent crimes to justice as quickly as possible.
- Juvenile court: A new partnership to refer support for the families and youth in the justice system.
- U.S. District Attorney Kevin Ritz: A recent violent crime initiative brought in additional U.S. D.A.s to help prosecute organized crime.
- TN. St. Sen. Raumesh Akbari: A State Office of gun violence prevention, and possible local similar office, to prevent the gun crimes in the city.
- TN St. Rep. John Gillespie: An effort to allow for seizing cars when offenders are caught drag racing and creating "chaos" on the streets.
- TN St. Sen. Brent Taylor: a push to make possession of stolen firearms an automatic felony.
"What you see right now in front of you is what you are going to continue to see. It's a unified front to address the situations we see in our community," said Young. "There is going to be things that we continue to disagree on, no question about that, but we agree on many more things and we are going to stand on the issues that agree upon. We are going to support each other to get those things done for the benefit of the the people of this city."
Taking a look at Mid-South crime after Memphis' homicide record breaks
While MPD is still determining the final numbers, on Jan. 1, the department told ABC24 there had been 397 homicides and 341 murders in 2023, compared to 301 homicides and 248 murders in 2022.
Toward the end of November, it was reported that there had been more than 14,000 stolen cars this year alone in just Memphis. MPD said repeat offenders and those younger than 18 are key players in the city's crime epidemic.
MPD also said 20% of all those charged were charged with other crimes previously.
Those looking to get involved with and/or donate to the various groups working to reduce crime in the Memphis area can do so with these links: