Team,

Yesterday, I announced my plan to reappoint Chief Davis. The announcement was met with mixed responses, and I wanted you to hear from me the reasons I believe she is the right person to help lead us out of the current crime situation. 

I have spent dozens of hours with Chief Davis, many of those hours spent walking around our city and interacting with residents. I have learned that beyond being a strong leader, capable of handling one of the toughest crisis situations any police chief could endure, she is also a natural collaborator and deeply committed to finding solutions to heal our community. 

At our first meeting, before I was the Mayor-elect and before she had even started the job, Chief Davis told me that she was concerned about the physical darkness she witnessed across the city - she wanted to add lighting, she encouraged us to illuminate previously dark streets, parking lots, and alleyways. We listened. We added additional lighting on Beale and have seen a positive impact with fewer stampedes and late-night incidents. We agree that we are not going to arrest our way out of our current situation. We must take a holistic approach. Environment matters. 

She has been leading the charge on the Connect2Memphis.org initiative. This program allows residents and businesses to add their cameras to the city’s existing camera network -  allowing MPD and the real-time crime center to have more eyes and ears on the streets and identify and apprehend criminals faster. This use of tech is an easy win and an example of forward-thinking policing. 

This week Chief Davis shared some of her plans for new initiatives and strategies with me, including the repeat offenders initiative - which will work to identify and apprehend those repeat offenders who are responsible for terrorizing our city. Our crime stats show that 20% of the criminal population is committing 80% of the crime. Some of you may have read the recent positive headline out of New Orleans - no homicides in the first 11 days of December - they attribute that in part to a stricter repeat offenders initiative as well as harsher penalties for those committing gun crimes. In Memphis, Chief Davis will lead MPD’s efforts to find and apprehend these offenders. 

In our discussions, Chief Davis reiterated her commitment to transparency, data sharing, boosting officer morale, and enhancing internal and external communication,  We are both aligned in our desire to heal our community and create a safer Memphis.

But MPD cannot do this alone. To help guide and focus our efforts, I am also working to identify a primary point person to lead our pandemic-level response. This public safety task force director will hold all stakeholders accountable. This person will work with Chief Davis, DA Mulroy, and other community partners to coordinate our response. They will be responsible for collecting and analyzing the data we use to monitor our progress toward a safer, stronger community and will direct and facilitate our collective efforts to restore peace. 

I want to thank you for being founding members of Team Memphis. I believe in our city, and I recognize how important this opportunity is. The time is now. Together, we must create the change we need to move our city to a brighter place. 

Let’s go!

- Mayor-Elect Paul Young 

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