Decades ago, a TV commercial for an oil filter popularized the catchphrase, “You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.”

It became a cultural code that endures to this day: Neglect taking care of anything on the front end — your car, your job, your spouse — and there will be a cost at the other end.

Now, as a crime continues to impact Memphis, more and more businesses are applying that catchphrase to security.

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“(Business owners) are looking at the incident that took place at FedExForum,” said Bennie Cobb, owner of Eagle Eye Security and Training Services, referring to the shooting at the Sept. 7 Lil Baby concert. “And they’re using armed guards. Not on a full-time basis, but as needed.

“It’s expensive to hire security guards to protect your business,” Cobb continued, “but it’s more expensive not to.”

The shooting at the Lil Baby Concert was an especially high-profile incident, but there have been many others.

From the volley of shots reportedly exchanged from two cars outside the Topgolf location on South Germantown Road in Memphis, to repeated retail burglaries that sometimes have involved using vehicles to crash through storefronts.

Dillard Door & Entrance Control, which sells reinforced overhead doors and rolldown shutters in addition to a smoke defense system that ties into alarms, has seen an uptick in business.

“We’re seeing a lot of companies going toward a physical deterrent, something that vandals and robbers can see,” said Joe Webb, a sales rep and assistant project manager at Dillard Door. “The shutters are sleek and thinner, aluminum alloy, and roll down when you close up at night to protect against people breaking glass. It’s had a pretty good success rate.”

Josh Hammond, president of Buster’s Liquor & Wines, has been reaching into the company coffers time and again as thieves have hit his store on South Highland Street three times.

“Each time it costs anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000,” Hammond said. “The last time, I ate it myself.”

The reason? His agent was worried another claim in such a short timespan might result in his insurance policy being canceled.

Hammond says they’ve had an armed security officer on site for probably 15 years, but as with everything else, the cost of employing an armed guard has only gone up. Add in the cost of damage, plus product loss from the break-ins and paying for the installation of bollards in front of the store, and it’s easy to understand why some smaller and less well-established businesses have had to close.

“We’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Hammond said. “We spend $120,000 a year just for an armed guard.”

Pay now, or pay later.

Even security operators are cautious

As of Dec. 1, Memphis has recorded 362 homicides, according to MPD statistics. That number easily surpasses the 2021 record of 346 based on the same MPD metrics.

So while business owners are focused on ramping up their security game to protect customers, employees and products, the owners of the security companies have concerns, too. To that end, Black Flag Security owner Courtney Simpson says she is only making armed guards available to clients.

“I’m not willing to put an unarmed officer out in Memphis,” Simpson said. “They have to have a way to defend themselves.”

Cobb, who worked for the Shelby County’s Sheriff’s Office for 30 years, agreed: “I don’t feel comfortable putting an unarmed guard out there in this environment.”

Yet, there is still a demand for unarmed guards, too, he says, adding that many shopping malls and hotels prefer them to armed guards because of the aesthetics.

Other business operators, Cobb says, employ off-duty police as a first line of defense and then supplement with unarmed patrols or guards.

How effective are those shopping-center cars with flashing lights driving around in circles?

“A presence is better than nothing,” Simpson said, adding that when out shopping this holiday season, it’s best to park as close to the store as possible and near light poles.

Meghan Medford, president of the Summer Avenue Merchants Association, says installation of LED lights along Summer Avenue has been a crime deterrent: “The area’s a lot brighter than it used to be.”

Beyond that, Medford personally cataloged all the visible cameras on Summer Avenue and provided police with a roadmap of sorts: “That’s apparently been super helpful for the camera guy at MPD.”

While crimes against persons and property crimes are far more prevalent in Memphis than its suburbs, no place is immune. An 18-year-old suspect and 19-year-old suspect were charged with attempted kidnapping after a Dec. 30, 2022, incident at the Shops of Saddle Creek in Germantown.

Contacted by The Daily Memphian about current security measures at Saddle Creek, general manager Kenneth Taylor said in an email: “As part of our corporate security strategy, we are unable to comment on specific security measures that we employ at the property. This helps to ensure that we do not compromise our overall safety and security efforts ...”

Getting bad guys off the street

In June, 23 people alleged to be part of a retail-theft ring were arrested as part of the Memphis Police Department’s Operation Broken Bottles. The suspects were believed to have targeted nearly two dozen businesses, most of them liquor stores, in a seven-month span.

Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy and MPD Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis appeared at a press conference that chronicled the arrests, charges and bail amounts. The Multi-Agency Gang Unit, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Street Crimes Unit and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also participated in the operation.

Suspects used stolen cars and sledgehammers to break through storefronts in what was described as a “mob-style smash-and-grab burglary ring.” Davis called the crimes “brazen and ruthless,” noting they caused “significant financial losses to local businesses.”

“That worked,” Hammond said of law enforcement’s operation, adding that his contacts in law enforcement have told him at least a dozen of those arrested remain in custody.

Mulroy told The Daily Memphian that his office set up its own “mini task force” to track the retail theft cases, “looking for patterns, looking for repeat offenders.”

MPD had a retail task force, too, Mulroy said, but disbanded it after Operation Broken Bottles concluded. The DA’s office, he says, still has its retail task unit.

“I think it might be nice if MPD would, you know, sort of resume that task force approach on organized retail theft,” Mulroy said.

Dozens arrested for alleged roles in retail theft ring

While Hammond said the past few months have been “calmer” for most liquor stores, City Gear stores in Memphis have been the repeated targets of burglars.

After thieves again hit the City Gear near Lamar Avenue last month, City Gear and Hibbett CEO Mike Longo told WMC-TV5 that he was encouraged by a meeting with the DA’s office, MPD and federal authorities, and he is glad more attention was going toward these crimes.

But Longo also said he was far from satisfied: “I am still furious about my hometown of Memphis being in the bullseye of crime.”

Take precautions and hope where you can find it

Medford, who also owns a roofing company on Summer Avenue, says concerns around crime are nothing new.

“The merchants on Summer Avenue have made security a priority for a long time, both traditional and high-tech,” she said. “Many have been here for decades. We share best practices every Tuesday at the (MPD’s) Tillman Precinct.”

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For instance, she said: “Keep an eye out for this person who’s been shoplifting, and this is what they drive.”

Still, another indication of the city’s worsening crime and its rippling impact is that Cobb says he’s not sure he would even enter the law enforcement profession today.

“It’s as different as the sun to the moon,” he said of the environment he worked in from 1981-2011 with the sheriff’s office, adding: “There’s less camaraderie among officers and departments … and police departments are now recruiting from other agencies.”

Also, there are many more guns on the street than there once were. Every time police stop a car for a traffic violation or serve a search warrant, it’s more dangerous.

“Permitless carry probably works for most of our state. In Memphis, it does not,” Hammond said, adding that in a meeting MPD’s Chief Davis told him: “Josh, before permitless carry, we could get 2,000 guns off the street (each year) just by asking” if the person had a permit.

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Hammond added: “We’re not gonna get anywhere by being soft. Who doesn’t want to rehabilitate folks? We do. But maybe that needs to be taking place behind bars.”

What’s clear is that even with the arrests that came out of Operation Broken Bottles, other criminals were quick to fill the void.

“On a given day, we have 16 to 18 armed guards working in Memphis,” Simpson of Black Flag Security said. “Most locations are of moderate size – medical complexes, high-end restaurants, several private schools.

“We had a lot of people reach out after the school shooting in Nashville. As far as medically, the Campbell Clinic incident definitely spiked (calls), and then just the number of car break-ins.”

Memphis’s crime has inspired Simpson, 41, to live in an outlying county.

“Our Thanksgiving, we had 13 people and an enjoyable meal without any conversation about crime at dinner or the whole day. That was really refreshing.”

Josh Hammond

“It’s terrifying and why I don’t live inside the city,” she said. “I know that doesn’t make me look good, but I’m not going to raise my children inside the city of Memphis.”

Yet despite this ongoing narrative, Hammond said he is heartened that at least for his businesses – and he recently opened another Buster’s in East Memphis – things have been quieter lately.

In fact, his store in the University Center shopping plaza, though struck three times by burglars, is better protected than it has ever been.

So yes, he’s paying now in hopes that he won’t be paying later.

“Our Thanksgiving, we had 13 people and an enjoyable meal without any conversation about crime at dinner or the whole day,” he said. “That was really refreshing.”

Julia Baker contributed to this story.