A tale of two crime discussions
The city’s divide on how to respond to violent crime is as complex as the problem
Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis (center, at a walk through Orange Mound) spoke recently at two different town hall meetings that both addressed violent crime in Memphis. (Houston Cofield/Special to The Daily Memphian)
Some Memphis City Council members are still hoping to be able to lift the city’s residency requirement to build the ranks of the Memphis Police Department.
Council members Ford Canale, Chase Carlisle and Worth Morgan told a group of more than 100 East Memphians last week they hope the Tennessee Legislature will approve a bill that would eliminate all residency requirements across the state for public safety employees.
It was one of two very different crime discussions in July that each drew Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis.
The two discussions are part of many meetings and vigils that have been the most recent response to upticks in violence in Memphis over several decades.
At times the meetings have been cited as part of the problem — a way to let Memphians vent that produces no action plan. But at other times, comments at the meetings reveal an evolving, larger discussion.
The new police chief offered a somewhat cautious middle ground, mixed with some immediate signs of higher visibility by police that drew support at both forums.
Meanwhile, Davis continues to look at the complexities of the city’s crime problem and how Memphians perceive what is a problem in major cities across the country this summer.
The residency stand by Canale, Carlisle and Morgan drew applause from more than 100 people gathered for the town hall discussion on crime at Second Presbyterian Church.
Canale sponsored the charter referendum ordinance and agreed to compromises. One set a radius for where police officers could live outside Shelby County and one would eliminate the ability to hire outside the county as the police force grew to a certain number.
“We had the support of nine of our colleagues and we had an election and we have a new group of colleagues and they repealed what they did in 2019,” Canale said. “So what they did was, they took away your (voters) chance to decide.”
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland vetoed the council’s decision to take the charter change off the ballot and the council overrode the veto within minutes of getting the veto notice in writing.
That was followed by a bill filed in the Tennessee Legislature by Republican Sen. Brian Kelsey of Germantown to do away with any residency requirement statewide for hiring public safety workers, including firefighters and police officers.
The bill is in a summer study committee in Nashville and could come up for votes next year.
The issue of whether police should live in the communities they patrol drew a guarded response from Davis.
“That’s a hard subject,” she said in response to a town hall question about hiring police officers from wherever the city can get them. “I’m supportive of the discussion.”
Two days later, the Memphis Branch NAACP held its annual Freedom Fund luncheon online for a second consecutive year and crime was also the topic under the heading “The New Pandemic: Crime.”
The residency requirement didn’t come up and there was some resistance to likening crime to a pandemic.
“Crime to me is not a new pandemic,” said Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer. “Crime to me is a symptom of an issue and the greater issue is disenfranchisement of our community and most importantly our youth.”
Davis was also a part of the discussion, which had less of a focus on an immediate response to crime.
“We’re just one cog in the wheel and when we arrive it’s too late,” she said of police. “We need to find a balance in public safety. … Some of the investment has to be in the community and not so much on public safety. If we get that piece right, we won’t need 2,500 officers.”
There is some agreement in the local discussion as to the reach of violent crime in Memphis.
“There is no question that across the U.S. and the City of Memphis we have a serious issue with violence and lawlessness,” Carlisle said. “We know we need more police officers but we also know that we need more resources. We need more volunteer outlets. We need more people engaged in taking back their communities. We are committed to doing that.”
Nobody in the predominantly white group at Second Presbyterian Church used the phrase “black-on-black crime.”
Since George Floyd’s death in May of 2020, critics of Black Lives Matter protests and similar efforts have said black-on-black crime should be a more immediate priority than police reform.
Black-on-black crime shows up frequently in the comments section in The Daily Memphian’s coverage of violent crime.
Former Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings was among those citing black-on-black crime. Members of his command staff also did at the city’s first Black Lives Matter protest in the wake of Floyd’s death.
At the NAACP forum, Sawyer and Democratic state Rep. Karen Camper of Memphis said the term “black-on-black crime” isn’t relevant and shouldn’t be viewed as separate from Black Lives Matter issues.
“It’s the same issue,” Sawyer said. “We are literally talking about the same thing. If we see Black youth as destined to be criminals … that’s what they are going to become.”
Camper said she doesn’t believe in black-on-black crime.
“And I try to shut it down every time I hear it,” she said. “It’s a catchphrase. We need to invest in our people.”
Sawyer said violent crime is an issue across the board for Memphians.
“These are all issues that we need to think about and address in our community. We need to ask our community how do we treat each other better,” she said. “But also, white people are killing white people. Latino people are killing Latino people because we are in segregated communities. ... It goes back to this disenfranchisement, this redlining, this gentrification.”
What dominated the council forum in East Memphis were anecdotal stories from those in the audience about direct experiences with violent crime from carjackings, friends killed in violent incidents, and car crashes on streets made unsafe by speeding cars weaving through traffic.
“We have felt your frustrations,” Canale said at the outset. “We have the same frustration.”
Morgan became unexpectedly emotional.
“The community in Memphis deserves to live a life free of fear, where they can live in peace and with courage,” he said. “But we can’t always provide that.”
After a pause to regain his composure, Morgan said city government has tried to deal with the violent crime, in particular gun-related violent crime.
“But that’s not enough,” he said. “We’ve lost friends. I’ve lost friends. I’ve had friends and family members victimized. And it hurts.”
Davis talked more about balance at the NAACP forum than she did at the East Memphis meeting, where much of what she said was in response to questions about the proliferation of street racing and reckless driving.
Canale touted ordinances on the books that he sponsored as well as state legislation that allows police to seize cars involved in street racing and/or reckless driving.
“Then they will understand they will not drag race on our streets,” Canale said to applause as he talked about the new legal weapon.
Davis said the phenomenon of high-powered “muscle” cars with drivers racing and blocking off streets — even parts of the city’s interstate system — to show off the speed of the cars, is a relatively new one in several major cities including Memphis.
She told those at the meeting to look for an increase in police patrols that will likely target, but not be limited to, the Mount Moriah corridor along the interstate that police have pinpointed as a center for much of the reckless driving and interstate shootings.
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violent crime Memphis Branch NAACP Memphis City Council 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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