Posted on 05/14/2006 7:09:26 AM PDT by Sybeck1
When beer truck driver Wes McNeal was fighting for his life with an armed robber, he would have loved to have seen a blue and white Memphis Police cruiser turning the corner at Looney and Dunlap.
McNeal, a distributor for D. Canale Beverages, was robbed at gunpoint of $603 and about $1,000 in receipts. He was the second vendor victimized at that spot recently.
"It's a hot corner," McNeal said as he left the hospital for treatment of shoulder, elbow and face injuries. "I'm there, and I never see cruisers in the area."
McNeal was one of 10 people robbed May 3, and one of nearly 1,500 people robbed in Memphis this year.
Along with other violent crimes, those statistics are way up compared to the same time period in previous years.
In the first four months of 2006, compared to the first four months of last year, murders are up 43 percent, robberies of individuals are up 41 percent and robberies of businesses are up 81 percent, according to reports provided by the Memphis Police Department.
No one has a simple answer for what's driving the surge -- more drugs, more gangs, younger criminals -- but Memphis police are trying to fight the tide in nontraditional ways.
Last week, after a rash of business robberies in the Winchester-Hacks Cross area, business owners demanded more police patrols.
But the current thought among crime experts is that just putting more cops on the street isn't the solution, and that initiatives like Operation Blue Crush, in the long run, are better ways to prevent crime.
"We have outdated notions we are afraid to change," said Michael Heidingsfield, head of the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission, like how best to use officers. "Blue Crush is the most productive way."
Operation Blue Crush, which was introduced last fall by the Memphis Police Department and expanded in January, uses statistical data compiled by University of Memphis professors and graduate students to pinpoint "hot spot" areas of crime.
The system allows the Police Department to deploy "the right resources, at the right time, on the right day," says University of Memphis criminology professor Richard Janikowski, whose team of analysts provides police with info on where the real hot spots are.
"We are able to zero it down to the block level," he said.
Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin says the research is proven and will help officers make arrests and get drugs, gangs and guns off the streets, reducing crime.
Tommy Turner, who heads the Memphis Police Association, which represents more than 1,400 officers, doesn't doubt that efforts like Blue Crush can be effective, but he favors putting more uniformed officers on the street, where the people can see them and feel safe.
"Uniform patrol takes precedence; it's the first line of defense," he says. "You have to have more boots on the ground."
A review of recent roll call sheets obtained by The Commercial Appeal shows that precincts are sometimes spread so thin a single patrol car must cover two wards.
In the newly incorporated areas of the Northeast Precinct, now called Appling Farms, wards are lightly manned, many nights with only one person instead of two.
And Presidents Island, which is part of the West Precinct, or Union Station, is frequently without a police officer after midnight, even though it includes a residential area just west of Riverside Drive.
Godwin is not by any means advocating fewer street patrols, but he says police have to become more innovative in crime prevention.
Blue Crush, he says, allows the department to do two things new: partner with the community and incorporate uniformed beat cops into the program.
"We have to try something different," Godwin said. "We're going to keep doing what we are doing, and not lose sight of the apple."
Heidingsfield said the city should give Blue Crush at least a year before assessing its effectiveness.
Meanwhile, the rates of most violent crimes continue to climb.
In addition to the increased rates of homicides and robberies, reported aggravated assaults -- each one a potential homicide -- are up 11.6 percent (not including aggravated assaults relating to domestic violence), from 1,656 in the first four months of 2005 to 1,848 in 2006.
Last year, when aggravated assaults spiked to more than 200 a month, a special unit was formed to prosecute them. The Felony Assault Unit helped increase the number of solved cases dramatically, from 16 percent to 48 percent.
But the number of violent assaults has increased -- now there are more than 460 per month.
Rapes are down slightly to date in 2006, the only violent crime to show a decrease, 7.3 percent.
Incidences of property crime are flat or down, including auto theft, which has dropped by 16 percent.
-- Chris Conley: 529-2595
Copyright 2006, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.
I would bet that the Memphis cesspool is worse than what is being reported. It was bad before Katrina and now is just getting some press. IMHO the problem started when the population of the city went from 51% ethnic to 75% ethnic because of the political leadership. Almost all of the ethnic city councilmen/women have been involved in white collar crime. Many of the ethnic management of the city have been involved in white collar crime. The city is following the example of the elected leaders and their code of ethics.
All the more reason for ensuring Harold Ford Jr is not elected to the Senate to fill the seat Frist is vacating.
I found out the other day that 59% of Ford's senate campaign contributions have come from out of state. I will be dam*ed if I want some other state helping another of that corrupt, race baiting family to get elected in my state. Talk about a "culture of corruption"...the Ford's make the Kennedy's look like a decent lot.
Well summed up.
Recidivisim is 58% in TN, 75% at the Shelby Co. penal farm. They serve on average 33% of their sentences. Catch and release, catch and release once again is the way it's done..just add more crime victims to the stats.
Need I say more?
Some Freepers are Memphis residents and are not appreciative of "armpit of TN". Every city has an armpit and Memphis is not "the" Armpit of TN. Thank you. Come back any time.
Even the Memphis police and the US Marshalls are shooting each other. After having lived in Memphis and being privy to many of the machinations of the city council, and dealing with the Memphians that choose to rob we that live in the environs of Memphis, I say that cesspool and armpit is a good description of Memphis. I will bet many of the Memphians that live there would agree that Memphis has become a cesspool.
Citizens need to arm themselves instead of waiting for the cops like the girl tied up on the railroad tracks in those old black-and-white silent movies.
Thank you.
I'm back. The only thing I can say for Freepers that live in Memphis is that I truly feel sorry for you. The best advice I have for you is to move. I only had to experience Memphis once before I was convinced to never go through there again. I hope visitors to your lovely city don't think the whole state of TN is like that.
If you go the private security route, go with canine patrols. No minimum wage guard is going to take a risk for someone elses investment. But if all he has to do is let loose the dog.....!
Worked very well in a marina I used to keep a boat at in NYC. Theft was down but still at unexceptable levels after a security firm was hired. Once we got the dogs, it stopped cold.
My theory is that that Memphis is still feeling the effects of Katrina.
Memphis defiantly not a cesspool. It has some cesspools in certain areas. Ten percent of the population anywhere are knuckleheads. You have live around the other 90%.
Just saw your reply.
Armed private security, at least here in East Central Fl.
have a rate of about $11.00+ per hour. Naturaly a K-9 would cost more.
Again, thanks for the reply.
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