From the editor — Daily Memphian plans year-long, in-depth series on crime
Ronnie Ramos
Ronnie Ramos was executive editor of The Daily Memphian from 2020 to 2021.
Memphis is in a crisis when it comes to crime.
The city, which recently hired a new police chief, is battling several issues as the number of violent crime incidents has risen significantly this year. This follows a record-setting year for murders in Memphis.
More police officers are needed, city leaders and the police chief say. The state and the city have been discussing who should enforce the laws on the highways as the number of speeders and highway shootings has increased.
All the while, the police and prosecutors grapple with how to deal with juvenile crime and repeat offenders.
And the gun violence. A famous rapper was gunned down at a store Wednesday. This follows mass shootings at a Kroger and a post office. The city is reeling.
Starting this week, The Daily Memphian will begin publishing a year-long series of in-depth, extensive reporting on the exploding crime problem in our city. Over the coming months, reporters and editors will focus on four major areas: murders, violent crime, juvenile crime and justice, and property crime.
We start today with an investigation into whether the thousands of cameras deployed during the past 10 years are working to deter crime, what the city is getting for the more than $10 million it invested in this technology and who is behind the one local company that is profiting from the cameras.
We will identify and analyze major trends and problems, and highlight possible solutions. We are building databases, searchable by neighborhoods, to show where every murder, and every violent crime, has happened this year. We are working on documenting what happens to drivers charged with drag racing. We want to analyze and provide some context around the murders committed this year.
We also will analyze how the Memphis Police Department is spending its money — and if the expenses are paying off in reducing crime. We have invested significantly in this effort. We have hired an investigations editor and a data journalist who specializes in gathering and analyzing information. We also will hire another investigative reporter and divert existing staff to examine this crisis.
This isn’t just about exposing problems — but you need to ask the right questions, and have the right information, to find the best solutions. We will talk to people making a difference and visit places where crime has decreased.
This will take time. We will persist and continue to demand data, information and answers, despite the city’s resistance to answer questions or provide access to key public record information. We have hired an attorney to make sure the city complies in a timely fashion with public records laws.
We also want to document the successful work the police department has done, how the new chief and the mayor are planning to tackle this crime crisis. Unfortunately, the Memphis Police Department has been slow to respond to requests for information and to make key people available for interviews.
For months, The Daily Memphian has asked for a sit-down with the city’s new police chief. The city has refused. The police chief’s dealings with the media have been few, and when they are, they are scripted and tightly controlled.
We also want to talk to police officers, to give readers their perspective on what is a very difficult job. What do they see as the biggest issues? How can residents help them? A story we did last year highlighted the complexities of being a police officer. We want very much to do more reporting like this.
And let’s be clear: this isn’t some petty complaint on the part of the media. This is about the city answering questions from you, the residents and taxpayers, about how the current administration is going to reduce a crime rate that has been steadily increasing.
This also means the county, who runs the jail, and its sheriff’s department. And the state, who makes the laws and — until now — has not done much to deploy state troopers to tackle the speeding on our interstate and state roads.
We are undeterred because all of us are living with this crime problem and deserve to know what is going on, what are the key problems, and how are our tax dollars are being spent.
Why should you care? Because residents deserve to know how this chief, this mayor and this police department are tackling this terrible increase in crime.
And I want to be transparent with our readers about the hurdles we face in getting answers from the city and police leadership. As one reader commented recently on the story about the chief responding to some pre-determined questions: “Ask questions and get answers.”
We will.
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