Sherwood Forest Neighborhood Association

CRIME SUMMIT
October 5, 2009
6:30 PM

SFNA Mission Statement

The mission of the Sherwood Forest Neighborhood Association is to have a collaborative partnership with all residents toward the preservation, restoration, and revitalization of the Sherwood Forest community. We will strive to improve and develop Sherwood Forest into a community that provides a safe and clean climate that will attract new homeowners and businesses.

Andrew Glisson welcomed everyone and turned the meeting over to Brian Stephens, President of the Cordova Leadership Council, who introduced the guests:

Memphis Police Deputy Chief Joe Scott

Shelby County Sherriff Mark Luttrell

Memphis City Councilman Shea Flinn

State Representative Mike Kernell was in attendance as well

ISSUES ADDRESSED AT THE SUMMIT:

What is your perspective on crime in the city? What is the biggest issue in Memphis over the next issue?

Shea Flinn prefaced by congratulating the Neighborhood Association on participation.

The panel discussed the fact that one of the top priorities for the City Police would be hiring more officers. Memphis has 200 officers for an area almost as large as Manhattan, where they have 39,000 police officers.

A real challenge in Memphis is crime. Sociologists would point to several factors contributing to the high crime rate in Memphis including:

High youth population ages 18-39

High Poverty Rate

High Unemployment Levels

Combined, this creates a recipe for high crime. Blue CRUSH was discussed as a major factor involved in the reduction of crime in Memphis.

From January 1 through the end of August 2009, overall crime in Memphis was down 16%. However, the need for truth-in-sentencing was emphasized by the guests. Our government faces problems including the high cost of keeping offenders in prison. An operation safe community package was also discussed. When Citizens Against Crime was started, citizens banded together and took buses to the State Legislature in Nashville and their voices were heard. Citizens were encouraged that starting in January; they should start e-mailing senators, and attending events to stress the importance of public safety to our elected officials. The Memphis police need our help. Officers feel that it’s another crime to see that once they arrest criminals, they are released before the paperwork is processed.

ABOUT OPERATION SAFE COMMUNITY

In 2005, Memphis Tomorrow, along with Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton, former Memphis Mayor W. W. Herenton and the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce developed an ambitious plan to accelerate economic growth in Memphis and Shelby County.

The plan, “Memphis Fast Forward,” identified increased public safety as a necessity in order to reach economic growth and prosperity goals in the community. Operation: Safe Community (OSC) is a strategic initiative to reduce crime in Memphis & Shelby County spearheaded by the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission.

The crime-reduction initiative, chaired by Bill Gibbons, Shelby County District Attorney General, utilizes 15 research-based strategies developed in partnership with The University of Memphis’ Center for Community Criminology and Research (C3R). It also engages 20 strategy leaders in an effort to make Memphis and Shelby County one of the safest communities of its size in the nation by the end of 2011.

OPERATION SAFE COMMUNITY – 3 overarching elements discussed by Sherriff Luttrell

Suppression – arrest and incarcerate (keeping criminals in jail is hard, but this is felt to be the easiest of the three tasks)

Prevention – how do we get the youth on right track

Intervention – breaking the cycle of crime

Deputy Chief Scott discussed the crime statistics as well. He noted that the percentages didn’t mean as much as the fact that the number of victims in Memphis each day has decreased from 165 per day to 105 – meaning 6000 less people are victimized in Memphis each year as a result of efforts including Operation Blue CRUSH. The department’s philosophy is that the key to departmental success is to use citizens to help prevent crime. The police department recently won awards in technology for efforts including Cyberwatch and the use of red light cameras. He stressed the importance of transparency within the department. He feels that knowledge is power to our citizens. Although there are around 4400 officers, there are approximately 1 million citizens in the community each day. Home burglary is one of biggest issues. He credited the community with the reduction in crime. Citizens know which cars belong on their streets and at their neighbors homes better than the police officers patrolling the streets; therefore, citizens can help reduce crime in their neighborhoods more effectively at times by keeping watch on the homes on either side of them.

Sherriff Luttrell discussed the fact that the neighborhood associations get to know comings and goings and get to know each other in a personal way.

The magnitude of the problem of crime is not as simple as putting people on the street, arresting them, and putting them in jail. If we as a community don’t do more than that, we are “just reaping the harvest.”

Sherriff Luttrell said The Department process over 50000 people per year – many are repeat offenders. The highest percentage of offenders are ages 18-26. There are currently over 70 juveniles because of lack of funding and support in the juvenile justice system. The youngest offender jailed at the moment is only 14 years old. The problem of youth offenders was attributed to several factors:

Lack of education – The average educational achievement is only the 5th grade. It’s sad to see children in Memphis educated like we are in a 3rd world country.

No Faith Foundation – We no longer live in a society where faith is an intrical part of the community

Lack of job skills

Increased school drop out rate

Teenage pregnancy

What are some tips for community to band together? Uptown has very interesting e-mail system where the minute a car pulls up that the neighbors don’t recognize, an e-mail goes out to everyone (i.e. Blue Honda at Jane’s house, do I need to call police? Jane responds and says “my sister is visiting, but thank you”)

Sherriff Mark Luttrell discussed the numerous models in our community showing how our neighborhoods can work together including hotlines, newsletters, etc. All of this comes under the umbrella of a strong neighborhood association.

We live in a changing community. In the south, people once gathered on big front porches in the front yard as evidenced by some of the homes in midtown. Now homes are being built with small front porches and fenced in back yards. We don’t know our neighbors as well. Neighbors were encouraged to get out on the streets, getting to know each other and coming up with a system that’s good for us. Participating in events such as National Night Out was encouraged. It was noted that we might need to give up a little privacy to achieve the strong good that comes from becoming good neighbors.

Chief Scott felt that neighborhood watch works when done correctly. Programs such as Citizens on Patrol and Cyberwatch are helpful. Communication with each other is the key. Meeting your neighbors on the right and the left is the vital first step in building a strong neighborhood.

Councilman Flinn discussed the challenges with funding. He commented that the red light camera program would provide crucial funding- after paying for cameras themselves. Money raised from these tickets will go back to law enforcement and the remainder is going to beef up support for neighborhood associations. His neighborhood provides decals for the cars for each resident in the neighborhood so it is clear which cars do not live in the area. This might be an idea for Sherwood Forest. Mr. Stephens added that not only does it take a village to raise a child, but it takes a village to keep crime out of our neighborhoods. They recommended starting start small and look out for people around your home.

What laws can we help push to make our neighborhoods safer?

Councilman Flinn felt that the Operation Safe Community initiative was important. All law enforcement would benefit from these initiatives. He noted three elements of crime to address:

Crimes of yesterday – crimes were criminals were caught, incarcerated and served. Second chance felon programs were mentioned.

Crimes of Today – incarceration element and the challenges in making offenders pay their debt for their crime. As a community, we need to ensure that while they are serving sentence they are taught skills, as citizens of society we need to practice forgiveness and accept these citizens back into our community so they may become productive

Crimes of Tomorrow – stopping trend signs we are seeing today to decrease future crime

Truth in sentencing

Police are discouraged to see that one person had 449 arrests for crimes such as assault and battery and was still being released. Where is the “449 stikes and you’re out law?”

Truth-in-sentencing works, but is expensive on the front end, as discussed by Sherriff Luttrell

As young robbery sergeant, he arrested a man after robbing 12 businesses on Summer Avenue. All of his crimes were with a gun and involved robbing individuals as they walked out of the stores. Two years and seven months later, the Sherriff moved over to homicide. The same individual got out of prison on Monday, smoked crack on Tuesday, and killed two ladies on Thursday.

IN an alternate scenario, a different man robbed three businesses and was prosecuted federally with truth in sentencing and received 95 years in prison.

Citizens must make a choice and decide which scenario they prefer. Steve Kernell noted that he voted for legislation that would help prevent this scenario today (when a gun is involved in the crime).

PUBLIC SAFETY is JOB # 1 – you want to make sure you’re safe coming and going to work and make sure your house is intact when you get home – The group applauded the need for public safety

Sherriff Luttrell thanked leaders such as Mike Kernell, a Sherwood Forest resident, for supporting what needs to be implemented. He commented that their needs to be a radical overhaul of entire criminal justice continuum. Twenty percent (20%) of the jail population is currently mentally ill – 500 people – making the Memphis jail far and away the largest mental health facility in town. Cut backs at the state level in the juvenile justice system complicate the ability to lock up people that really need to be locked up. We must prioritize things that need to be tackled. The Juvenile Justice System must try to salvage those children before they are allowed to commit more horrendous crimes.

Chief Scott added that if Nashville can get a real feel for the citizens of our community, we will get results. He again encouraged us to mobilize and make our voices known .

Stevens, voice as a group has such an impact

Representative Mike Kernell was asked to join in the discussion and mentioned a bill that he and Representative Richardson stopped and re-wrote regarding mentally ill criminals. He explained that after 1.5 hours, police release these individuals to mental health facilities. The bill was going to allow the State facilities to turn away these patients if there were no beds. This meant the State would be allowed to cut back on their beds and in turn cut their budget, but would have been a great disservice to law enforcement and the mentally ill.

He has also voted for legislation involving gun crimes that has made sentencing tougher on violent criminals and repeat offenders.

CITIZENS POSED QUESTIONS

Which is safer – alarms or window guards?

Window guards work well, a lot of people don’t like them because they are unsightly. GOOD alarms work well. Only 1% of alarms responded to are actual crimes – most are false alarms. Dogs are very affective. (Side note – Mr. Stephens has taken on a stray dog if anyone is interested). It really comes down to personal preference.

CRIME PREVENTION TIPS FROM THE MEMPHIS POLICE AND SHERIFF:

http://www.memphispolice.org/Crime%20Prevention%20Tips.htm

http://www.shelby-sheriff.org/admin/crimeprevent.html

Code violations were discussed as an early factor of crime. Lack of code enforcement was a big frustration for the group, and suggested as the next summit topic. Part of crime prevention is code enforcement. The Sheriff discussed collaborative such as the 1st in the Hollywood/Chelsea area where a group of citizens sit down once a month for one hour – the group includes representatives from community, code enforcement, a health department representative, a police department representative, etc. The group trouble shoots code issues in that area and assigns tasks. They come back and discuss the progress made and hold each person accountable for their assignments. This has been successful in dealing with code issues. “If you don’t address code issues, it will become a crime issue soon. If you see grass growing, tires piling, etc., use that and contact code enforcement.

Real Estate agents are getting paid to maintain properties during foreclosures. Agents can help in maintaining the properties as well. Two officers are trained in the area East of Mount Moriah. Judge Potter holds court there every month and is very strict – holding citizens in contempt if they don’t correct the problem. Officers are being trained to cite these violations West of Getwell.

Councilman Flinn discussed Community Enhancement – $5 million was appropriated to clean up blight – and they made a lot of headway. However, the real estate economy made this problem exponentially bigger.

Code enforcement can only do so much with out of state land owner s. A time lag is involved in protecting property rights and it is usually during that lag that homes become crack hoses. He mentioned a garden that was started in the backyard of empty house to keep drugs away.

What can we do about dogs becoming menaces to the area? A dog had killed two dogs on another person’s property and a citizen was concerned.

Call police – Police will respond and will contact animal control.

Animal control will respond quickly during the daytime but have limited officers at night

Dog Owners are responsible for the actions of their dogs due to legislation that has passed. If a dog has killed another dog, contact authorities. This dog has some serious issues to be addressed.

If there is a house that’s been foreclosed and they aren’t keeping up the yard, can I go over and cut the grass?

Many neighborhoods are doing just that. It’s not against the law. No one will charge you with mowing the yard – Andrew Glisson commented that he does it all the time on his street and no one has charged him with “lawn-mowing” yet. Officers said this is okay.

Still, you can also call code enforcement, which should address the issue and clean up the property and then charge the owner.

The next two citizens complemented police on their incredible service. The next question posed was, “Is there away to randomly check cars for weapons, permits and guns? “ She was concerned over drive-by shootings on her street.

No. This is a constitutional violation.

The final citizen echoed the compliments to officers and fire departments, and he wanted to know about whether any suits had been filed, and if so, had been successful, in Shelby County in regards to property owners suing for code violations and loss in property value.

They were reasonably sure lawsuits had been filed. Several citizens were concerned over violations at 3784 Friar Tuck. Councilman Flinn suggested citizens contact him in these situations and he will put in a call to fix the problem. He stated that he would send an email to his administrative analyst regarding this property.

FINAL COMMENTS:

State Representative Mike Kernell (who made calls to everyone possible) suggested the following tips:

Be careful when returning from the bank,

Take cell phones with you

Don’t put your computer under the sofa or the bed

Don’t leave things in car visibly

Invite other neighborhoods to the next meeting–

Colonial Acres worked on Code issues and set up a process to help

Sherriff Mark Luttrell offered this advice:

Be sensitive to anything you can do within your control:

Watch how you carry your purse, don’t carry a huge purse

FORECLOSURES:

Memphis has one of the biggest foreclosure problems in the nation

Laws recently been enacted that can help save your property

He can get you in contact with legal services to help you delay foreclosure

FIREARMS:

Make sure you are well trained to carry firearm if you choose to do so

Take advantage of the great training available in Memphis

Chief Joe Scott’s final comments:

Blue Crush is a philosophy. You are in charge. Colonels in his department preach the importance of being a service organization every day.

Stop by your precinct –

they can educate you

they have a wide array of activities that can help you –

Get to know precinct – best tool and weapon you have–

10 precincts across the city

Call him at 636 3700 will help in anything you need

Councilman Shea Flinn’s parting comments:

The firemen and police are at top on rankings from citizens every year. Your representatives live completely by reflective power – what you’re starting by organizing.

The meeting closed with the suggestion of the need for a Code Enforcement Summit reiterated due to the interest during this summit.

Prescott Church was thanked for allowing us to use the facilities.

Andrew Glisson invited everyone to the next meeting: 1st Monday in November at 7:30 pm. He noted that the CDC Neighborhood Development Corporation is coming in a big way and everyone is encouraged to be involved.