Crime rate inches down, but some feel unsafe
By: Sam Flow
Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: News
Despite the Memphis Police Department's initiatives such as Operation Blue CRUSH, some Memphis residents say they still do not feel entirely safe.
University of Memphis photography major and Midtown resident Amanda Carver said her car was broken into twice in the past two years - once at her house and again in the general parking lot on Central Avenue at the U of M.
"I think there should be more security on campus," she said. "There should be more police officers in Memphis, too."
More than 80 Memphians spoke at the City Council meeting on Tuesday night urging the council to loosen residency requirements so that the city can hire more police officers, but council voted against it 7 to 6.
Carver and a friend were also victimized three years ago leaving Beale Street one night. Carver said a man ran out from the shadows, snatched her friend's purse and ran.
Not all cases are like Carver's, however. Nathan Masters, another Midtown resident, said he lived in a pretty bad part of town for over a year and was never personally affected by crime. He did say, however, that he would sometimes step outside and hear gunshots from no more than a block away.
"We never really worried because there were six of us living there," Masters said. "You just have to watch out who you hang around with."
Masters also said it was a regular thing to walk down the street and be confronted by drug dealers and pan-handlers, but despite the gunshots and drugs, he said police patrolled the street regularly.
It is these types of situations that have influenced the MPD's escalating notion to clean up the city through the efforts of Operation Blue CRUSH (Crime Reduction Utilizing Statistical History).
Operation Blue CRUSH, which began in 2005 as a pilot operation, has since become what the MPD calls a department-wide philosophy. Blue CRUSH, a modernized approach to law enforcement, according to some, uses cutting edge technology like the new Real Time Crime Center, or RTCC, to determine crime statistics in order to point out trends in criminal activity and to monitor criminal activity with cameras around the city.
University of Memphis photography major and Midtown resident Amanda Carver said her car was broken into twice in the past two years - once at her house and again in the general parking lot on Central Avenue at the U of M.
"I think there should be more security on campus," she said. "There should be more police officers in Memphis, too."
More than 80 Memphians spoke at the City Council meeting on Tuesday night urging the council to loosen residency requirements so that the city can hire more police officers, but council voted against it 7 to 6.
Carver and a friend were also victimized three years ago leaving Beale Street one night. Carver said a man ran out from the shadows, snatched her friend's purse and ran.
Not all cases are like Carver's, however. Nathan Masters, another Midtown resident, said he lived in a pretty bad part of town for over a year and was never personally affected by crime. He did say, however, that he would sometimes step outside and hear gunshots from no more than a block away.
"We never really worried because there were six of us living there," Masters said. "You just have to watch out who you hang around with."
Masters also said it was a regular thing to walk down the street and be confronted by drug dealers and pan-handlers, but despite the gunshots and drugs, he said police patrolled the street regularly.
It is these types of situations that have influenced the MPD's escalating notion to clean up the city through the efforts of Operation Blue CRUSH (Crime Reduction Utilizing Statistical History).
Operation Blue CRUSH, which began in 2005 as a pilot operation, has since become what the MPD calls a department-wide philosophy. Blue CRUSH, a modernized approach to law enforcement, according to some, uses cutting edge technology like the new Real Time Crime Center, or RTCC, to determine crime statistics in order to point out trends in criminal activity and to monitor criminal activity with cameras around the city.