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| 2005-2006 Successes |
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Operation Safe Community (OSC) and the Crime Summit— This strategic planning effort (in which the Crime Commission played a key leadership role) represents the culmination of better than a year’s efforts to develop an executable plan which will: join the strategies of every law enforcement agency serving our community; present a unified crime control effort to the community; prioritize those challenges demanding our attention; craft measurable performing programs to address specific crime issues and finally and most crucial, significantly reduce the rate of violent and Part I crime in Memphis and Shelby County (please see our web site at www.memphiscrime.org for the strategic plan itself); our leadership role in OSC represents all that the Crime Commission is about: collaboration, public policy, evidence based research and advocacy—it is the perfect opportunity and forum for what we do best
Crime Primer—In an unprecedented effort to educate the community on crime, local and national crime trends, crime reporting and the influences that most impact crime and offenders, the Crime Commission researched and published a first ever "Crime Primer" which will also serve as a key piece of the educational efforts of Operation Safe Community (please see our web site for the Crime Primer itself)
Downtown Quality of Life—The Crime Commission continues to be the one organization to which downtown organizations, residents and merchants turn first for advice and guidance on issues that plague the downtown renaissance such as panhandling, larceny and rowdy juvenile behavior—in response to such requests we are currently examining a special juvenile curfew for the entertainment district and providing crime analysis data directly to downtown groups
Major Board Additions and Notes—Long sought after and now a reality, we have added both Pinnacle Airlines and the Memphis Grizzlies to our Board of Directors; additionally, Mr. Terry Harris (former US Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee) of FDX has agreed to accept the 2007 chairmanship of the Crime Commission, the first time that FDX has been in that role; finally, charter board members Dr. Benjamin Hooks and Ms. Maxine Smith were made Directors Emeritus
Family Dollar Stores, Inc—At the request of Mayor Wharton and in response to notification by Family Dollar to Shelby County that as many as fifteen of their local stores were to be closed because of internal and external crime issues, the Crime Commission worked directly with Family Dollar over a year’s time to analyze the source of their losses, examine each store for its ability to use Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and to build enhanced loss prevention techniques; as a result not one Family Dollar store was closed and Family Dollar, Inc became a financial supporter of the Crime Commission (please see our web site for the report itself)
Uptown Redevelopment—At the request of Henry Turley, the Crime Commission provided a CPTED analysis of the Uptown Redevelopment in an effort to curb quality of life offenses plaguing the redevelopment effort
Study of Sexually Oriented Businesses—At the initial request of District Attorney General Bill Gibbons and Nick Clark of Clark and Clark, the Crime Commission undertook an examination of the relationship between/impact of sexually oriented businesses (SOB) on local crime; the resulting report, representing twelve months investment of time, produced strong and dramatic findings that should shape the legislative response to local SOB and provide Mr. Gibbons with enhanced information for dealing with nuisance locations (please see our web site for the report itself)
Mayor’s Proposed Crime Abatement Plan—Chairwoman TaJuan Stout Mitchell and the Memphis City Council have asked the Crime Commission to analyze Mayor Herenton’s proposed Crime Abatement Plan and provide support for his recommendations, alternatives where that would make sense or options for the City Council to consider; this request of the Crime Commission is the first of its kind in our nine year history and reflects exactly why the Crime Commission exists and what we are here to do
Law Enforcement Accreditation of the Memphis Police Department (MPD) and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO)—Based largely on the early leadership of the Crime Commission and its advocacy to both MPD and SCSO on the need for accreditation, both agencies are not only now engaged in the accreditation process but the MPD is scheduled to be evaluated next month and SCSO in 2007, both major steps forward for their respective organizations
Family Safety Center (FSC)—In partnership with the Child Advocacy Center, the Crime Commission has led the strategy effort to create a workable business plan for the formation of a Family Safety Center, a one-stop-shop for any and all services needed by the victims of domestic crime; the FSC is included as one of the fifteen components of Operation Safe Community
Electronic Monitoring as an Option for the SCSO—This research study was done for Sheriff Luttrell at his request (please see our web site for the report itself)
Recruitment Plan for MPD—Scheduled for completion next month (and now to be included as part of our review of the Mayor’s Crime Abatement Plan), this two year effort to examine the MPD recruitment protocols against national models should result in substantial revision to how MPD advertises for, screens, tests, accepts, trains and retains its police recruits; this began at the request of then Police Director Jim Bolden
Safety Issues in Memphis City Schools—The Crime Commission continues to work directly with Dr. Johnson and her staff on the concept of CPTED as it applies to school facilities, the school’s part in OSC, the Blue Ribbon initiative, data-mining for school safety information and administrative measures that work in tandem with other school-based safety efforts; although yet to be successfully implemented, we still believe that a change to later school start hours would have a significant impact on juvenile crime and victimization (see our original report on the last topic on our web site)
Private and Public Bail Bonding—At the request of Federal Public Defender Steve Shankman, we examined the current bail bond system in place in Shelby County, the deficiencies that are inherent in such a system and engaged in a comparison with other national models; our recommendation that the current private bail bond system should be replaced with a public system was endorsed by Mayor Wharton
Special Juvenile Curfews—Currently being researched are the feasibility of two unique juvenile curfew laws: the first aimed at daytime curfews and intended to reduce truancy and juvenile delinquency (undertaken at the request of Mr. Gibbons) and the second focused on reducing the rowdiness and disorderly behavior of juveniles downtown during the hours of darkness (undertaken at the request of the Center City Commission and MPD)
New York Police Department (NYPD) Real Time Crime Center—As part of the City Council’s request that we review the Mayor’s Crime Abatement Plan, but significant in its own right, we are examining the application of NYPD’s Real Time Crime Center technology to Memphis and its law enforcement agencies
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