The pandemic and gun violence top the list of concerns for residents in the Memphis Shelby County Crime Commission’s annual poll addressing issues ranging from crime to views on public safety.

This is the second year the poll has been conducted. It is part of the Crime Commission’s Safe Community Plan, a five-year blueprint to reduce violent and property crime.

“Initially, the reason for the poll was as a measurement of police community relations as part of the current Safe Community plan,” said Bill Gibbons, Crime Commission president. “Once we decided to conduct the poll, we decided why not ask respondents about some other issues related to public safety, so we expanded it.”

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This year’s poll was conducted Sept. 18-22 and included 425 registered voters with 275, or 65%, from Memphis. The racial breakdown of those polled overall was 48% white, 46% Black and 6% other.

In Memphis, the racial breakdown was 58% Black, 37% white and 5% other. Along gender lines, the breakdown was 60% women and 40% men.

The largest age group who responded were those 18-44, or 43%, followed by 45-64 at 33% and people 65 and up, 24%.

The poll found the pandemic ranked as the top priority with 30% placing it at the top of list of concerns followed by crime/public safety at second with 22% .

From a list of seven questions, voters were asked what was the most important issue that public safety officials should focus on and 48% said gun violence was a major concern in Memphis and Shelby County. That was followed by human trafficking with 11% and 10% said juvenile crime was an issue that needs the focus of law enforcement.

Juvenile crime was added to this year’s poll because Gibbons said the commission wanted to gauge how the public felt about juvenile justice issues.

In the poll, 37% of voters see the system as “too lenient” rather than “too harsh” for both youth and adult offenders. White voters and African American voters differ on the treatment of adults while being nearly aligned on the treatment of juveniles.

Neighborhood safety and police protection

When asked about police protecting people from violent crime, only 48% of those polled gave police an excellent or good rating compared to 56% in last year’s poll. This year, 49% gave police a fair or poor rating compared to 39% in the 2020 poll.

But even though voters polled rated police low on protecting them from violent crime, police remained popular in the community’s eye with 62% rating them as doing an excellent or good job. 

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When asked if they felt safe in their neighborhoods, 77% of respondents said they did while 6% said they felt unsafe.

Police performance along racial lines showed a decrease with both Black and white voters. This year, 51% of African Americans felt police were doing an excellent or good job enforcing the law in their communities while last year the number was 56%. Among white respondents, 74% said police performance was excellent or good while last year the number was 85%.

“Gun violence is a major concern and working on strategies to reduce gun violence is a priority for the Crime Commission,” Gibbons said. “This poll shows us that residents still strongly support our police officers, even though their job performance has slipped some since last year’s poll. Hiring more police officers is clearly important to voters.”

When it comes to having an increased police presence in neighborhoods, 73% of respondents said they would like to see that happen with 68% white voters and 78% Black voters polled saying they would like an increased police presence in their neighborhoods.

Police residency and hiring more police

The poll showed 81% of voters support hiring more police officers and 15% opposed. Black and white respondents polled evenly on hiring more police officers, with 84% of white voters supporting it and 80% of Black respondents. 

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Those polled were also asked about police and fire residency requirements. The poll found that 73% countywide support loosening requirements so police and firefighters can live in a neighboring county or within a 50-mile radius. Another 24% oppose changing the residency requirement.

Among white voters polled, 81% support changing the residency rules and 64% of Black voters support the change. 

Those selected for the poll were chosen randomly and contacted by phone either by Public Opinions Strategies, the company hired to conduct the survey, said Deidre Malone, president of The Carter Malone Group. That organization is a Memphis public relations firm that worked with Public Opinion Strategies and the Crime Commission on the poll’s development and analysis.

Malone said she was surprised that human trafficking ranked behind gun violence as a concern in Memphis and Shelby County.

“We felt the public perception of police officers and law enforcement in general is still really good. It was reduced somewhat with that particular age group, 45 and under, but I’m very pleased to see that people still believe that we need more law enforcement officers and firefighters and wasn’t surprised at all that the voters felt like the residency issue should be looked at again,” she said.

Gibbons said as they work to develop another Safe Community plan, they plan to continue doing the polls to get feedback from voters.

The poll was reviewed by the Crime Commission board Tuesday, Oct. 26. The poll has a margin of error for overall results of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

To view the poll go to: www.memphiscrime.org.