There are 20 articles by Bill Gibbons :
“With strong overall positive feelings about local police coupled with a very strong desire for more officers, we need a major effort to recruit and retain people of good character and a sense of public service to be in local law enforcement.”
“Investigations and prosecutions can take far too long as forensic test results are pending. But implementing a series of key additions to local forensic capabilities can make the justice system move faster and more efficiently.”
“There is bipartisan support for greater concerted efforts to leverage data from across the criminal justice system to improve effectiveness, evidence-based decision making, and transparency.”
“By reducing the number of aggravated assaults, we can make a real dent in the number of victims of violent crime and reduce our violent crime rate even more.”
The forum will address juvenile crime, bail, truancy and other factors with speakers including representatives from the Memphis Police Department, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, General Sessions Court and the school system.
“We must send a message that gun violence is unacceptable behavior! Most residents of our community are fed up with the unacceptable level of gun violence. As a community, we must take a public stand.”
The president of the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission says we need to change the juvenile justice system’s arbitrary 19th birthday cutoff and use public safety as the overriding factor in bail decisions.
“The climate is ripe for what new Memphis Mayor Paul Young has called a pandemic-type response to public safety. Many other cities are being cited as ‘models’ for what can be done, and all have merit.”
“The key to maintaining and building on Downtown Memphis’ momentum is to get a handle on the reality and perception of public safety concerns and to do so with a healthy sense of urgency.”
In advance of the legislature’s special session, the former Shelby County District Attorney and head of Tennessee’s Department of Safety and Homeland Security argues for a series of changes to the state’s gun laws.
“Different parts of the criminal justice system tend to operate in silos, and so an easily accessible, easy to understand, transparent reporting system will require the cooperation of many different parties. The public deserves it.”
State government must not fail to fulfill the basic function of providing peace and safety to the people. We must fix what’s broken in our state criminal justice system - because we can do better than this.
A new sentencing system should emphasize enhanced services and appropriate treatment designed to reduce the likelihood of a juvenile becoming a repeat offender.
Former district attorney explains the laws, guidelines and considerations that officials make when assessing juveniles accused of violent crime.
“There is no one easy, quick answer to the challenge of gun violence, but there are some common sense steps that could make a significant dent.”
Opinion: Loosening the residency requirement for both the Memphis Police Department and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office is not the sole answer to the law enforcement shortage, but it is a needed and effective tool in recruitment and retention efforts.
Loosening the residency requirement would make it easier for Memphis to create racial diversity in the ranks of MPD with smart, targeted recruiting. But in a perplexing vote, the Memphis City Council decided to remove the residency referendum from the Nov. 3 ballot.
In “Bleeding Out,” a senior research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, writes that "nothing works as well to reduce urban violence as focused deterrence.”
The Kelly Report submitted to the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission recommends expanding the Multi-Agency Gang Unit and ramping up data-driven policing to address gang violence.
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