Memphis to use federal funds to address violent crime
Memphis is one of 15 cities across the nation that has committed to using some of its federal American Rescue Plan Act funding and other public funding to boost violent crime intervention programs.
The Biden administration announced Wednesday, June 23, a set of violent crime executive orders and actions including the intervention collaborative, with the White House convening and supporting the collaborative.
Meanwhile, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said the decision by President Joe Biden to say ARPA funds can be used specifically for anti-violence initiatives, along with new grants outlined Wednesday in Washington D.C., will help the city prepare for a possible summer surge in violent crime.
“These funds will allow us to make significant strides in taking a wholistic approach to address public safety in our city,” Strickland said.
He included police training and overtime as well as a return to community policing and efforts outside the police ranks that are more long term.
By Strickland’s count, the state of Tennessee and Shelby County Schools, as well as city and county governments, are getting a total of $4.3 billion in ARPA funding.
He called on the state of Tennessee to use some of its share with the new, specific guidance from the White House to have the Tennessee Highway Patrol increase its presence on the city’s interstate system and put up cameras on the interstate. Both would be efforts to deter several years of outbreaks of shootings on the interstate.
“We have a plan and we believe it is a good plan. We just don’t have enough money,” Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said Wednesday, June 23, of new White House guidance that allows the use of federal ARPA funds to fight violent crime. (Bill Dries/Daily Memphian)
While Memphis Police have patrolled the interstates as part of attempts to deter the shootings, Strickland’s administration has emphasized that the interstate system is the responsibility of the state. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has responded with an increased THP presence at different periods.
“We need help with finances,” Strickland said. “We have a plan and we believe it is a good plan. We just don’t have enough money.”
Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis said the use of ARPA funding for police overtime is an immediate step and so is preparation for the July 1 arrival of the state law that allows citizens to carry guns openly and without any kind of permit.
“While this city opposed the legislation, it still happened,” she said. “And we need to be prepared for it.”
That preparation includes training and legal support already underway for a fundamental change in encounters in which officers see someone with a gun. Now, officers immediately ask if the person has a permit for the gun.
“We want to make sure we don’t violate anyone’s rights. But at the same time, we are very concerned about gun violence in our cities,” Davis said. “And this legislation provides more flexibility for individuals who would commit a crime to actually open carry.
“It adds complexity to the whole scenario, and there are many different scenarios,” she said.
Strickland established the city’s Group Violence Intervention Program last year based on an earlier version of the program tried in the city during the administration of Mayor AC Wharton.
The newer version involves support from several foundations and nonprofits to establish better training for those who will intervene with both victims of violent crime and those who might try to continue the cycle of violence around a specific shooting.
Strickland said the intervention program has 13 trained interveners.
“But we need hundreds. We’re trying to ramp up to 50 in the short term,” he said. “Then we have to fund the wrap-around services. If someone says, ‘Yes, I want to turn my life around,’ we have to help them with whatever means we have.”
Last year was a record year for homicides in Memphis at 332. The overall violent crime rate, including homicides, increased 24% in Memphis and 23% in Shelby County, including Memphis, last year compared to the year before.
Of all the violent crimes, the biggest surge was in homicides with a 49% increase in Memphis compared to 2019 and 46% countywide. Aggravated assaults increased 35% in Memphis and 34% countywide, according to the Memphis-Shelby Crime Commission.
Beyond Memphis, the Biden administration announced a series of executive orders on violent crime and a push for new gun control legislation in Congress.
The administration cites a 24% increase in homicides nationally from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of this year.
There have been 139 homicides in the city as of June 23. Last year around the same time period, there were 106 homicides, according to Memphis Police Department.
The U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday the formation of five strike forces on firearms trafficking in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area and Washington D.C.
As Biden was to announce the new set of executive orders, Attorney General Merrick Garland was to meet with the mayors of Baltimore and Miami-Dade County in Florida as well as Rapid City, South Dakota, the New Jersey attorney general and the police chief of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The executive orders on violent crime are the second in three months from Biden on the issue.
A set of six executive orders Biden signed in April included new controls on “ghost guns” — guns assembled by the buyer that have no serial numbers and can be bought in pieces without a background check.
Reporter Yolanda Jones and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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violent crime violent crime intervention Jim Strickland American Rescue Plan Act Cerelyn "C.J." DavisBill Dries on demand
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Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
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