The Early Word: Crime expert feels safe here, and Ford Jr. is off the job for now
Happy hump day, Memphis! It’s March 5, and the Shelby County Commission is expected to talk ethics during today’s committee sessions.
And then tonight, the Memphis Grizzlies get another chance to win in front of a home crowd as they play the Oklahoma City Thunder. They’ve lost the past three home games in the final seconds, and they’re playing tonight without Jaren Jackson Jr., so let’s send them all the good vibes.
Memphians are “extremely hard on themselves.” Those were the words of Fausto Pichardo, a former New York police official who is now a Memphis public safety consultant. Memphis Mayor Paul Young brought Pichardo in to help with his promised “pandemic-level” approach to crime. And after being here a while, Pichardo says Memphis is a “tremendous city,” and he feels safe “everywhere I walk around.” Not feeling it? Well, he says Memphis is about to get even safer: He pointed to the Memphis Police Department’s ongoing work on big cases that could put away a large number of gang members. And he explains why he thinks the murder rate will go down, too.
Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. is off the job at Memphis Public Libraries — for now, at least. Ford was indicted last week on federal bribery and tax evasion charges related to an alleged kickback scheme involving grants to local nonprofits. On Tuesday, the City of Memphis said he’d been placed on leave from his job as a senior financial literacy services coordinator in the library system.
Plus, Germantown may annex a sliver of land, the old Jerry’s Sno Cones is coming down and the Tigers clinch the AAC’s No. 1 seed.
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Bianca Phillips
Bianca Phillips is a Northeast Arkansas native and longtime Memphian who’s worked in local journalism and PR for more than 20 years. In her days as a reporter, she covered everything from local government and crime to LGBTQ issues and the arts. She’s the author of “Cookin Crunk: Eatin’ Vegan in the Dirty South,” a cookbook of vegan Southern recipes.
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