SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — Shelby County is getting some help combating crime from the White House.
Sandy Bromley, director of the Shelby County Community Services Division, was invited to Washington D.C. in May.
Bromley was seeking solutions to combat crime in Shelby County.
"I was just so proud to be invited," Bromley said. "I think we have a lot of work to do in this country around public safety. I think we really just need to learn how to work together. Collaboration is key, and we learned that from other jurisdictions," Bromley said.
One of her biggest takeaways from the event was the reinforced need for an Office of Violence Prevention in Shelby County, which is currently in the planning phase.
"We were able to learn from other jurisdictions...learn how they set up their office," Bromley said. "What does it look like? What does success look like for these offices?"
One Memphian agrees that prevention is the best way to cut down the crime rates, and change not just the City of Memphis, but Shelby County as a whole for the better.
“You'll never change anything until you change the mindset of the people, and if you can get them to think differently, they'll live differently” Vincent Liford said.
The goal would be to lean more on community partners instead of law enforcement to help with outreach efforts for the program.
"Really start talking about more prevention efforts and early intervention so that hopefully people don't end up with law enforcement and in the courts,” said Bromley.
The Community Services Division hopes to get the violence prevention office running and able to start making an impact in the community within the next year.