Downtown Memphis residents and visitors have suffered carjackings, robberies and break-ins, according to business owner Daryl Andrews. 

Andrews, who co-owns Walking Pants Curiosities gift shop at 109 G.E. Patterson Ave., said that his friend was carjacked near his shop Monday, Dec. 19. The day before that, another friend was confronted in an alley near his shop — and commanded to hand over his bank account information — by two individuals with guns. 

“I got a ticket — two — for parking right here, Memphis Police Department, with no sign, having my windows busted out and an obvious flat tire,” Andrews said in a Monday, Dec. 19, Facebook live video, referring to the alley near his shop at G.E. Patterson and Main Street. “I’ve asked several times, messaging our city council members, those that are in charge of this area, and MPD, to put an eye in the sky down here in a neighborhood that receives a heck of a lot of tourist traffic.”

During a Memphis City Council Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee meeting Tuesday, Dec. 20, Councilman Chase Carlisle expressed frustration that Downtown development is struggling because of crime.

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He said underwriting agencies are scared about the risk of working in a crime-ridden city. And the incidents don’t make residents and tourists feel safe. 

He mentioned the money going into large developments — including $70 million going into Tom Lee Park and $220 million into Renasant Convention Center — but he said his family has struggled to get private investments for a convention-style hotel. And he said there are three empty office towers downtown.

“If we cannot bring the crime statistics down in the Downtown area, we will not get private investors,” Carlisle said. “I talked to lenders across the country. I talked to insurance underwriters across the country. And I talked to institutional investors across the country. It is out of the hands of people like me whose job it is to sell Memphis to convince them to lend dollars here. 

“But eventually it goes to a young man or young woman sitting in an office ... And they want a whole series of analytics about risk profile and at some point, we’re going to tip the scale on whether or not Memphis is bankable, and we won’t have the option for private investment.”

Councilwoman Rhonda Logan agreed with Carlisle, saying not only does crime keep newcomers from moving to Memphis, it encourages residents to move away. 

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“We are virtually in a state of emergency as a city, and we may have to consider that,” Logan said. 

Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis said there have been efforts to try to make the Downtown area safer by increasing the number of officers patrolling the area and by cracking down on reckless driving.

“It is really important for us to take care of our Downtown space,” Davis said. “It is the face of the rest of the city.”

Davis said the department should have more motorcycle and mounted officers in the Downtown space. She also said the department should work with the court system to figure out how to instruct juvenile offenders who break into cars one day and do it again the next.

Auto-related crime has skyrocketed across the city, and Downtown Memphis is no exception. On Dec. 11, 30 cars were broken into in the 300 block of Wagner Place.

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“We would hope to see our sports teams bring visitors to our city, then feel safe in our city and be excited about it,” Davis said. “But we have some gaps. The problem can’t just rest on the Memphis Police Department. I take responsibility of the resources that I do have and when I ensure that they are here, they are responsive and that we do what we can for the city. But we encourage everybody to take their role in how we make Memphis a safer place.”

She added that the police department will have a strategy planning session in January to come up with ways to address certain trends in the city. 

Carlisle said he spoke with Paul Young, president and CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission, who has promised to increase the presence of the Blue Suede Brigade, a security team in the Downtown area. But the security details will not be increased until January, Carlisle said. 

During a segment about missing persons, MPD officials shared statistics on the number of missing persons reports in Memphis this year.

The 2022 resolve rate for missing persons in Memphis is 94%, which, according to Shawn Jones, Assistant Chief of Police Services, is consistent with the national average. 

MPD records show 100 reported kidnappings per year in Memphis, although actual number is much lower

This year, of the 938 missing persons reported, 885 returned, leaving 53 who are still missing. 

Of the 1,616 runaways reported, 1,547 returned, leaving 69 who are still missing. 

Statistics for prior years were not provided, but Jones said those numbers were consistent with this year’s. 

Drag racing and reckless driving charges are up in 2022. There have been 88 drag racing and 901 reckless driving charges this year versus the 80 drag racing and 810 reckless driving charges last year. In 2019, there were 24 drag racing and 589 reckless driving charges. 

The precincts with the most enforcements are Mt. Moriah, North Main and Tillman.

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“We see an increase in the charges filed, because I think we’ve given focus to that and our officers have been trained a little bit better in identifying the issue,” said Paul Wright, deputy chief of Uniform Patrol District 2.