The United States Department of Justice is deploying additional resources to Memphis to combat crime in the city, officials with the Memphis branch of the United States Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday, Nov. 28.

United States Attorney Kevin Ritz, who leads the office, made the announcement alongside several others including acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Nicole Argentieri.

“Memphis like many places in our country is reeling from violent crime,” Ritz said.

MPD’s aggressive approach to crime stats will focus on re-offenders

The new initiative, formally called the Violent Crime Initiative (VCI), will see the addition of federal prosecutors in Memphis as well as investigations into organized crime. The initiative will also include a community engagement portion around crime. 

Seven prosecutors from the DOJ’s Criminal Division will be brought into the city, including senior members of its Violent Crime and Racketeering Section who specialize in prosecuting organized crime, Argentieri said.

Argentieri said that data-driven investigations into organized crime will drive the enhanced prosecution work. 

She also said that the initiative will include a community engagement portion that includes meeting with community members and working with organizations that focus on crime prevention, intervention and re-entry.

“We know that we cannot arrest our way out of this problem,” she said. 

Memphis is the second city for the VCI to be implemented, Argentieri said Tuesday. 

The first city was Houston, Texas, in September 2022. In that case, the initiative targeted specific neighborhoods where gang violence was occurring, she said. 

Since then, more than 50 gang members have been prosecuted. 

Argentieri said that Memphis will be different, however, saying that there are different gangs that are more spread out. 

“The general framework (for the VCI) is the same, but I think it stops there,” she said. 

Gov. Lee sends more THP troopers to Memphis — again

Tuesday’s announcement comes after two others earlier this month about new efforts by other law enforcement bodies, including the Memphis Police Department, to crack down on crime in the city. 

Gov. Bill Lee announced on Nov. 20 that he had sent 40 additional Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers to Memphis as part of the ongoing “Operation Grizzly,” whose goal is to reduce traffic deaths. Lee also announced then that by Nov. 27, he would send 15-20 more troopers to the city.

The deployment followed a Nov. 16 letter from state Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Eads, to Lee about Memphis crime.

Taylor specifically referenced reckless driving in the letter and asked Lee for unannounced and periodic THP “surges” in addition to those already stationed in the city to “increase the presence of law enforcement.”

The following day, MPD chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis told Memphis City Council members on that the department will start compiling data on alleged repeat offenders and become more “aggressive” in discussions about who should be kept in pretrial detention. 

Crime rates continue to climb across Memphis

About 21.9% of arrests that MPD officers made between Jan. 1 this year and Oct. 31 were of repeat offenders, according to data Davis presented.

The DOJ announcement also comes in the wake of several recent shootings in the city, three of which have claimed the lives of school-aged children.

17-year-old Jylmyra Kirkendoll, which Ritz referenced Tuesday, a senior at Trezevant High School, was killed on Nov. 13 while walking home with friends after someone drove by and fired shots at the group, according to his mother. 

And on Nov. 18, Mavis Christian Jr. allegedly went on a shooting spree, shooting five family members and killing four, including 13-year old Tori Christian.

He was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Multiple shooting suspect had history of domestic violence charges