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| 2007 Annual Report |
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Memphis Shelby Crime Commission
2007 Annual Report
Best Practice 16: Combating Panhandling—Given the unanimous consensus among downtown residents, merchants, investors and visitors that aggressive panhandling is the single most frightening disorder issue downtown, we examined the best practices of other jurisdictions nationwide, the associated constitutional issues and the crafting of the most defensible local ordinances to create a local solution; this best practice catalyzed the Center City Commission (CCC) to redeploy the Blue Suede Brigade Ambassadors, change their internal training in combating panhandling, to work to re-start special court handling of offenders and most importantly be prepared to launch a pilot project in the first quarter of 2008 to put private police (limited authority private security officers) in public space (along Main Street mall primarily) specifically to combat aggressive panhandling and other public disorder offenses in the absence of other enforcement capacity; additionally, in partnership with the CCC the Crime Commission will lobby in 2008 for a modified city ordinance that will be more effective
Electronic Monitoring of County Inmates—At the request of the Sheriff we examined electronic monitoring as an alternative to incarceration as part of a proposed effort to at least stabilize if not reduce the current county jail population; as part of the larger debate as to alternatives to the currently inadequate jail facility, we determined that while electronic monitoring could be a population-reduction tool it is not, based on national evidence, a cost-savings tool when compared with facility modification or downsizing, thus applying the facts to the conventional notion that this is a money-saving move that should be adopted immediately
Recruitment, Selection and Retention Within the Memphis Police Department—A three year effort that began as a comprehensive effort to examine a generation of recruits and their successive careers, this research effort evolved into a gap analysis of current recruitment, selection and retention protocols within MPD against national best practices; a 200+ page final report provides recommendations for modifications of certain steps of the process in an effort to improve practices overall
School District Police Departments—As an element of their respective contributions to Operation Safe Community, both the city and county school districts announced their intentions to form their own individual school district police agencies; at the request of Memphis Tomorrow the Crime Commission examined the evolution and efficacy of such agencies around the US for either compelling evidence that such decisions make sense or the absence of such evidence; in this case there is very little evidence either way as to the success of school district police agencies indicating that our decision must be a local one that does not rely on national best practices
Race on Race Crime—Posed continuously as both an outright question regarding crime in Memphis and underlying virtually any discussion about the state of crime in Memphis as well as potential solutions, the Crime Commission took this issue head on examining black-on-black crime locally; the results indicate that in every category of violent crime other than aggravated robbery, black offenders violating black victims are the majority while also revealing three critically important public policy findings: victimization is terribly uneven, the Hispanic community is emerging as the victims of choice for robbery and data-driven or intelligence-led policing that targets particular offenders and locations is the way to tackle violent crime
Law Enforcement Consolidation—Based on the original work of the Crime Commission in 2003 regarding functional consolidation between the MPD and SCSO and the 2007 MSCC addendum to that work, the Crime Commission participated in a six month examination of full consolidation with the City Council and County Commission at their request; this task force resolved to recommend a five year path to full consolidation and the Crime Commission, although a dissenting voice at this point, will remain a full partner in the future deliberations that could merge the two of the largest law enforcement agencies in Tennessee
Law Enforcement Accreditation—The Crime Commission provided both the philosophical catalyst and practical oversight in the formative stages of the pursuit of national accreditation by both the MPD and SCSO; three years later (2007) the MPD has formally been awarded its accredited status and the SCSO has been recommended for the same; this reflects their compliance with 450 standards of policing that reflect the best practices nationally of law enforcement
Evaluation of Mayor Herenton’s Crime Abatement Plan—At the request of the City Council, the Crime Commission was asked to independently review the Mayor’s proposal to reduce crime which included the deployment of the current 2000 sworn officers, the addition of 500 police officers to the city and 150 officers at the schools, the design of a real time crime center, the use of camera surveillance, the establishment of a police foundation and new strategies for the recruitment of police officers; our work affirmed essentially every element of the Mayor’s proposal other than the elimination of the college education requirement for police candidates
Crime Analysis—We supply a continuous uninterrupted stream of real time crime data to the largest neighborhood associations in the city, the Memphis Medical District and the downtown stakeholders in an effort to ensure that the perception of crime is matched by the reality and that solutions and concerns are interpreted accordingly
Immigration and Crime in Memphis and Shelby County—In the first study of its kind regionally, the Crime Commission examined the emerging trends in legal and illegal immigration, the portion of local incarcerated populations that immigrants represent, the authority available to local law enforcement to deal with immigrant crime and the obligations of local law enforcement as well when it arrests and confines immigrants who are citizens of other countries; this was much overdue information given the national debate on illegal immigration and the role of local law enforcement in combating it, and illustrates at least a partial picture of our regional situation; in summary, we do not employ all of the federal authority that is available to our police agencies and we do not capture all of the relevant information to ensure an accurate accounting of our jailed immigrant populations; both findings should serve as catalysts to fine-tuning our local law enforcement systems accordingly
Operation Safe Community –The first year of this five year effort to substantially reduce crime in Memphis and Shelby County relies on the collaborative efforts of the US Attorney, the District Attorney General, the Sheriff, the Police Director, the University of Memphis for research, the pursuit of federal funding and evaluative processes, Memphis Tomorrow for the support of the business community and the Crime Commission which is both the steward and coordinator for OSC as well as a research source; program efforts include the expansion of data-drive policing, an expansion of the current Project Safe Neighborhood law enforcement partnership model, tougher penalties for gun offenders under state law, additional state prosecutors, expansion of the Drug Court, implementing a comprehensive anti-gang strategy, an expansion of public safety efforts in city and county schools, expanding middle school-based mentoring programs, launching the JustCare 180 turnaround program for juvenile offenders, expansion of juvenile and adult offender re-entry programs, implementing an effective problem properties system to address blight, building a communications campaign that promotes tough consequences for crime and implementing Fugitive Safe Surrender, an opportunity for wanted persons to resolve their criminal charges in the safe environment of a local church—the result to date is a reduction in violent crime of 6.2% and a reduction in property crime of 5.9% across Memphis and Shelby County
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