The citizens of Memphis are being held hostage by an unacceptable level of crime which is now reaching levels never seen before in all of our neighborhoods and communities.  Our elected leaders must take corrective action immediately to make our streets safe again.  We are no longer able to live normal lives where we are able to shop, attend school, enjoy recreation, travel to work, or exercise without fear of being subject to crime.  We must end this cycle of violence by ensuring that measures are taken by our public officials to provide the necessary resources, manpower, and appropriate legal framework to bring about change. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/memphis-reporter-joyce-peterson-shares-​frustration-during-shooting-coverage-147995717894

We demand the following:

District Attorney’s Office- We demand less plea bargaining and a tougher stance on crime. Mental illness is not the sole or even prevailing reason for crime. There should never be any get out of jail free cards, under any circumstances. In the end, the horrific crimes that occurred this week and cost multiple innocent citizens their lives would never have happened if the perpetrators weren’t released early. The risks currently do not outweigh the rewards, so there aren’t any deterrents to committing a crime. If criminals know that they will serve a long prison sentence, without the chance of early release if caught, some will think twice before committing crimes. After all, prison reform and education is important and needs to be addressed, but the main goal should be to keep people from committing crimes so they stay our of jail in the first place.

Mayor Lee Harris, Mayor Jim Strickland, MPD Director CJ Davis, SCSO Director Floyd Bonner- We demand that press conferences are held for every single innocent person and child killed, whether it be in a drive-by shooting or gang related.

Mayor Lee Harris and Mayor Jim Strickland- We demand a budget presented that fully funds both the Memphis Police Department and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and increases pay and training, with special emphasis on dealing with crimes, broadcasting, and social media.

Mayor Jim Strickland- We demand that the Police Director be held accountable. Director Davis should create a plan of action with measurable results to include how she is going to hire more officers, retain current officers, streamline systems and processes to decrease costs and become more efficient, reduce crime rates, etc.

Mayor Lee Harris- We demand that the decency to attend press conferences when someone is brutally murdered for going about their daily lives.

Police Director CJ Davis- We demand a public request for more police officers from the City Council. It is your job as a leader to boost employee moral and create a workplace where people want to come work by always having your employees’ backs. Prove that you know how to be a leader by boosting employee moral and listening to the needs of officers. Ride with patrol officers to experience what they deal with on a daily bases, work closely with the gang unit to learn the ins and outs of Memphis streets, work with Homicide Detectives to determine what resources would help increase the number of cases solved, etc. Listen to the needs of your employees and follow through, whether it be raises, equipment, system changes, etc., and your workforce will organically grow.

SCSO Director Floyd Bonner- We demand a public plan of action to reduce intake time at the jail in order to get officers back out on the streets. Currently the wait times can vary anywhere from 3-5 hours for each officer to book someone. Continuously publish progress and monitor results throughout the entirety of his term.

MSCS Superintendent Toni Williams- We declare that students be declared truant if they have too many unexcused absences. The funding lost to the school for the student declared truant should not be your main priority. If you truly cared about the students, you would hold them accountable and force them to receive an education so they have a chance at a better future. When students aren't in school, they are wandering the streets bored and unsupervised, which is one of the main reasons to join a gang. We also demand all guidance counselors properly educate the students on the different career paths, steps taken to get there, how much money can be made, etc., based on the students' interests. Finally, all MSCS schools must post graduation rates, college admission rates, job hire rates at graduation, what type of job, pay range, etc., and track these numbers annually to see how the students progress in order to make the necessary changes if the students aren't getting jobs or livable wages.

Shelby County Crime Commission- We demand better crime tracking. Track not only the crimes committed and time served, but also track what education has the criminal received, what school did he/she attend, how many days did he/she miss, what type of student was he/she, whether he/she had a mental illness, and if so, how was it being treated, etc. With better tracking, we can better determine how best to perform early interventions with our youth.

Memphis City Council and Shelby County Commission- We demand all non-profits given tax payer dollars to have publicly posted and current 990s on the IRS website. The 990s should be included in the non-profits request for money and discussed publicly, as well as the plan of action for the non-profit, how the money will be spent, and how they will measure results.
Memphis City Council- We demand all Memphis Police Officers receive a $10,000 raise in their base salaries. Years ago there was a waiting list to join the Memphis Police Department because we were the highest paid in the state. Currently Memphis Police Department is lowest paid out of all the surrounding municipalities and counties and is the most stressful, most dangerous, has the highest workload, has the worst equipment, and the least amount of support from the community where they work. The only way anyone would choose to work for the Memphis Police Department over the rest is because it’s the highest paid. End. of. story. Paying a consultant is a complete waste of money.

Shelby County Commission- We demand Judicial Magistrates are held accountable. Magistrates are appointed by the County Commission and are not judges, but have judges powers. They can set bonds, release prisoners, etc. The Shelby County Commission needs to publicly vet all that apply to become a Magistrate by live streaming and questioning their knowledge of the actual law.

All Judges- We demand all daily and future dockets be publicly posted, as well as the number of cases heard each day. All should be in an easy to access and read format.

Judge Patrick Dandridge- We demand a plan of action to reduce blight with measurable results, stop delaying cases, dropping fines, and issue bench warrants for those that do not show up for court. All receiverships should be put out to bid publicly, as well as, who won the bid, where the receivership went, and what contractor did work on the property.

MLGW- We demand financial and salary info, public organization charts with names, titles, job descriptions and duties, and an emergency response action plan for ice storms and outages be publicly posted. Continuously post plans of action with results that include streamlining processes, reducing costs and becoming more efficient. Because of extremely high utility rates, people are having to choose whether to pay for food or utilities.

Downtown Memphis Commission- We demand the safety of downtown, especially Beale Street, is ensured, whether it be by providing security, paying police officer overtime, increasing the cost of Beale Street bucks, etc. The plan of action should be publicly posted and results measured. A strong, safe downtown core will bring money and jobs to the city by boosting tourism and encouraging investments and development. When out of town companies and investors hear about how dangerous one of our main tourist destinations is (Beale Street), they second guess their investments.