District Attorney targets violent crime with latest public safety strategy
“We want to make it clear that those who violate the law will be prosecuted, and those who engage in violence or repeat nonviolent offenses will face the consequences, including incarceration,” Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy said about his office’s public safety initiative. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
Editor’s note: For the latest on Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy’s crime prosecution initiative, click here.
Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy will prioritize the prosecution of a dozen violent crimes and violent-adjacent crimes through a new public safety initiative.
The initiative, which Mulroy will formally announce Tuesday, Dec. 19, will launch Jan. 1, 2024.
A press release detailing the Tuesday announcement calls the initiative a “comprehensive strategy” that will target 12 “Priority Violent Offenses” and “violent-adjacent” offenses, including convicted felons possessing firearms, stealing cars with firearms and smash-and-grabs.
“This initiative underscores our commitment to aggressive prosecution, with a specific emphasis on addressing violent crime in our community,” Mulroy said in the media release. “We want to make it clear that those who violate the law will be prosecuted, and those who engage in violence or repeat nonviolent offenses will face the consequences, including incarceration.”
The city of Memphis has seen 384 homicides so far this year, surpassing the record of 346 homicides set in 2021, according to data from the Memphis Police Department.
The city is also seeing a record number of business burglaries, with 2,225 so far this year compared to 1,668 at the same point in 2022 and 1,091 in 2021, according to the Memphis Data Hub.
DA’s violent crime focus follows other agencies’ announced efforts
Mulroy’s announcement comes on the heels of another agency’s efforts to curb violent crime. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee announced a separate Violent Crime Initiative on Nov. 28.
It is the second such VCI to launch in the U.S. The first, launched in Houston in September 2022, targeted gang violence.
The federal initiative will see the addition of federal prosecutors in Memphis as well as investigations into organized crime. It also will include a community engagement portion around crime.
Seven prosecutors from the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division will be brought to Memphis, including senior members of its Violent Crime and Racketeering Section, who specialize in prosecuting organized crime.
Data-driven investigations into organized crime will drive the enhanced prosecution work.
The federal initiative will also include a community engagement portion that involves meeting with community members and working with organizations that focus on crime prevention, intervention and re-entry.
Two other law enforcement agencies also announced efforts to push against violent crime last month.
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 calling for periodic THP “surges” to help increase law enforcement presence.
The day after Lee’s announcement, Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis told Memphis City Council members the department would begin compiling data on alleged repeat offenders and become more “aggressive” in discussions about who should be kept in pretrial detention.
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.
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Shelby County District Attorney General Steve MulroyJulia Baker
A lifelong Memphian, Julia Baker graduated from the University of Memphis in 2021. Other publications and organizations she has written for include Chalkbeat, Memphis Flyer, Memphis Parent magazine and Memphis magazine.
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