When Mayor Paul Young took office in January, he vowed to mash the gas pedal on the cityโs fight against blight and crime. With citywide crime down 13.8 percent and a staggering 33 percent drop in Downtown Memphis, he now has the numbers to prove the progress.
On Friday in a meeting with about 40 civic and business leaders, Young pushed the pedal to the metal, unveiling a suite of cutting-edge measures to keep the momentum going.
โThe work is working,โ Young said. โOur strategies are driving crime down, but weโre not satisfied yet. Weโve made progress, but thereโs still a long way to go. Weโre committed to continuing this work to make Memphis the safe, vibrant city it deserves to be.โ
Data Doesnโt Lie: Crime Is Down.
The Narrative, On the Other Handโฆ
The numbers tell a story of progress: total crime in Memphis is down 13.8 percent compared to last year. Violent crime has dropped by 19.1 percent, and Downtown Memphis has seen a dramatic 26 percent reduction in overall crime. Motor vehicle thefts, a persistent challenge for urban areas, have plummeted 37.4 percent citywide and a remarkable 48 percent downtown.
โWe are down in every precinct, double digits in most of them, and theyโre continuing to reduce,โ said Interim Police Chief Cerelyn โCJโ Davis. โI have to give a hat tip to the men and women of the Memphis Police Department because they have been relentless in all of the various initiatives.โ
View Mayor Young’s “Downtown Strategy: Safer, Stronger, More Inviting:”
Young pointed out that Memphis isnโt just keeping pace with national trendsโitโs surpassing them. He showed a series of โMemphis vs. Errrbodyโ graphics, indicating how Memphis is outperforming other cities like Nashville, Atlanta and Detroit. โWeโre not just following the trend; weโre setting the pace.โ
The city wants to tell a different story about crime, to change the narrative.
โThat narrative of crime has really had an impact in previous years, but we’re seeing a record investment this year alone, and we’re gonna build on that,โ said Greater Memphis Chamber President and CEO Ted Townsend. โ[The positive crime trend] is going to absolutely be incorporated into our narrative.
โI’ve got 40 projects in our economic development pipeline right now, and I can’t wait to go out and engage in discussions with all of those decision-makers who are considering whether or not to invest (in Memphis),โ he added.
Ted Townsend, President & CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber
Young echoed the sentiment, openly challenging media outlets in the room covering the session to spread the good news โ for a change.
โI ask our friends in the press: Itโs important for us to highlight [the progress] because youโre economic developers too,โ Young said. โItโs important for those stories to get out there because people are reading them and consuming that data.
โCrime doesnโt go down by happenstanceโit goes down because of intentional, collaborative work,โ Young emphasized. โItโs up to all of us to change that narrative. Memphis is making progress, and we need to make sure the world knows it.โ
AI keeping an eye on Downtown . . . and beyond
As impressive as the crime trends were, the even bigger news came with Mayor Paul Youngโs announcement that the city has already begun deploying high-definition, artificial intelligence-enabled camerasโnot just Downtown, but across Memphis.
โThe technology is a game changer for law enforcement,โ Davis said, from a law enforcement perspective. โWe use tools as a force multiplier. When you donโt have an officer to put on every corner, youโve got a camera that you can put there, and you can have one officer manning 10 different cameras.โ
But why the focus on Downtown?
โDowntown is the space where we all gather. It’s the only neighborhood that’s everybody’s neighborhood,โ Young said. โThink about it. It’s everybody’s neighborhood. And we want everybody to feel safe here.โ
With 246 cameras already operational in Downtown Memphisโranging from license plate readers to private surveillance systems connected through the Connect Memphis programโthe city plans to add 183 new public cameras. Of those, 63 will be high-tech intersection cameras capable of scanning for vehicles, tracking license plates, and identifying potential threats in real-time.
To emphasize the point, Young did a โreal-timeโ demonstration of his own. Using a laptop, he clicked into a camera at the intersection of Kimball, Pendleton and Lamar. โLetโs say police are looking for a red car, or maybe an SUV. Theyโre identifying every SUV that has run through that intersection.โ
Citywide, 550 new AI-enabled cameras are being installed, with 220 already funded and in various stages of deployment. This initiative is powered by the cityโs $850 million Blue Suede fiber network, which provides high-speed connectivity to ensure that these tools operate seamlessly.
Young then zoomed in on a single license plate on a car halfway down the street.
โThese (cameras) are about 10 times better than the technology weโve been using,โ he said proudly. โIn this instance, theyโre identifying a car, and they want to check the license plate. Someone from the Real Time Crime Center is able to look at that carโs license plate from that far away.
โPreviously, an officer would have to go out there and check for that vehicle,โ he said. โNow, we have the ability to do (that type of thing) from our Real Time Command Center.โ
What about face recognition? Can the technology be used to ID people with warrants?
โRight now, weโre using our technology only for objects โ vehicles, tags, and things of that nature,โ Davis said later. โI know across the country, some airports use facial recognition for various reasons, but we are not using our technology at this time for that.โ
New Police Command Center coming to Peabody Place
If all goes according to plan, the Memphis Police Department will soon have a highly-visible footprint at Peabody Place, just doors down from Hooters and mere yards from Beale Street and FedExForum. The 2,500-square-foot facility will be staffed around the clock with officers monitoring cameras for any signs of criminal activity.
There will be more boots on the ground, too. MPD plans to deploy officers on foot, horseback, and motorcycles throughout the Downtown district, especially during events that draw larger crowds. Officers will also make mandatory drop-ins with business owners to build relationships and ensure safety.
โDowntown is the living room for our whole region. Itโs important that we have a safe living room for our communityโnot just for tourists, but for the residents of our city,โ Mayor Paul Young said.
The placement of the command center wasnโt random. Young noted that their own crime data, as well as comparisons with other cities, highlighted that areas around arenas and stadiums tend to attract more incidents. This informed the decision to focus resources near key Downtown attractions, including FedExForum, Beale Street, and Redbirds Stadium.
But itโs also deliberately designed so that people walking down the street can actually see officers in the command center โ a reassurance for law-abiding citizens, and hopefully a deterrent for criminal behavior.
โWe want to get the city back to a sense of normalcy, what we all feel is a sense of normalcy,โ Davis said. โCrime is just not going to go away completely, but we feel good about the direction weโre going.โ
All Systems Go: A Plan Already in Motion
Memphisโ new public safety approach isnโt made up of lofty ideas and no execution โ itโs already in progress, Young said. When business leaders asked what was needed to execute the plan, Young said his office was still determining the costs of infrastructure investment.
โBut weโre not waiting,โ he added. โI want that to be the important point. We are investing now.โ
And despite the presentation focusing on Downtown Memphis, Young repeatedly emphasized that similar tools and strategies are being implemented in ZIP codes where the data says they are most needed.
โWe definitely want people that refuse to obey the law to understand that we are not going to tolerate it as a community,โ Young said. โOur community has been fed up for monthsโyearsโwith negative activity.โ
Of the 550 AI-enabled cameras slated for installation citywide, he said, 220 have already been funded, and many are operational. The new command center at Peabody Place is expected to open by April 1, just in time for the Grizzlies playoffs and Downtownโs busy spring season.
The deployment of technology and officers Downtown is only part of a broader strategy. MPD is also ramping up initiatives like the Fugitive Task Force, which has executed over 480 violent crime warrants in just two months, and the Blight Zero program, which targets blight-prone areas to address crime at its roots.
And earlier this week, almost 40 area nonprofits were awarded more than $1 million to use in programs to help deter youth from falling into a cycle of crime in the first place.
โOur goal is to make sure that those people who want to come Downtown have a good time, a safe time, are able to do that,โ he continued. โAnd those that have bad intentions choose not to come down here and participate in that activity.โ
