The Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office hosted a public-safety summit, which was not open to the general public, Thursday, Aug. 31, with elected officials and community stakeholders at which they agreed on initiatives to combat crime in Memphis.

Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy said officials came to a consensus on public safety priorities during the meeting. 

“I think the consistent message from all of us and several others … is that we all recognize that we have a serious crime problem,” Mulroy said. “We have a crime crisis right now, and it requires an all-hands-on-deck approach to tackle the problem.”

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Those who attended included Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis; Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris; Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland; U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz; Sheriff Floyd Bonner; state Sens. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, and Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis; and state Rep. John Gillespie, R-Memphis. Representatives from the U.S. Marshals, Tennessee Highway Patrol, and Tennessee Department of Corrections were also present.

“Lots of different voices were heard today,” Mayor Harris said. “The right level of tension — the right level of spirit, of collaboration — was also present.”

He added: “I think it’s time for all of us to get out of our silos and start working together, and I think that happened today.”

Many of the speakers during the press conference agreed there was the “right level of tension” during the six-hour meeting, which Mulroy had anticipated. 

“One of the reasons why we decided to have the summit not be open to the public was that there would be a frank and candid exchange of views,” Mulroy said.

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Mulroy said there are some issues dealing with violent crime officials will work independently on, but there are other initiatives, which are evidence-based, they can work on collaboratively. Some of those include:

• Prevention efforts, including focusing on violence-intervention programs, such as the city’s Group Violence Intervention Program, Memphis Allies, Heal 901 and Shelby County’s Youth and Family Resource Center.
• Targeting crime hotspot areas by improving environmental design, which includes more streetlights, clearing vacant lots and remediating blighted buildings.
• Providing rehabilitative and re-entry services to defendants in every step of the pre-trial and post-trial process.
• Looking more at intensive supervision services for justice-involved youth.
• Sharing data among agencies.

The state legislators who attended the meeting brainstormed on legislation that could help with the crime issue. 

Taylor said there was also a lot of discussion about how to help law enforcement use the tools they have while also keeping the criminal justice system fair and just, “not only about how do we treat defendants, but there was also a healthy discussion about the victims.”

“The issue of crime and crime prevention is a journey; it’s not a destination,” Taylor said.

“The issue of crime and crime prevention is a journey; it’s not a destination.”

Tennessee state Sen. Brent Taylor

Taylor said he will propose blended sentencing to the state legislature when the next session starts in January. Blended sentencing was proposed during the summer 2023 special session and during last year’s session, but it did not pass in both state legislative bodies. 

If it passes, blended sentencing would keep some juvenile offenders in the justice system for longer. Once they age out of the juvenile system on their 19th birthday, they would serve the remainder of their sentence in adult court, up to the age of 25. 

Gillespie said he will attempt to bring legislation that would distinguish between aggravated assaults when a weapon was fired versus those when a weapon was not fired. 

“Aggravated assault with a firearm right now is just not being handled the way it could be handled on the state level in terms of whether you get probation or jail time,” Gillespie said.

The DA’s office has already begun not offering probation to those accused of aggravated assault involving the firing of a weapon.

Memphis City Councilman Jeff Warren said the group struggled with addressing the base causes of crime in the city, which include residual effects from slavery.

“One of the things that we talked about and we’re trying to look at is how do you, in addition to enforced crime abatement, how do you address the social causes of this, such as poverty and the things that our kids are suffering and our younger people are suffering through,” Warren said. “We didn’t really move the needle there, but we’re looking at moving this as we go forward.”

Mulroy said the group is hoping to see preliminary results in six to 18 months and that officials will continue to work on collaborating on solving public safety issues. They will convene again in a few months. More details on strategies will be posted on the DA’s website in the “near future.”