The Greater Memphis Chamber sent a letter to Governor Bill Lee (R) on Tuesday, requesting money, resources and new legislation to address the record high crime in Memphis. Among the requests include the passage of bills by State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) to reform Tennessee bail and sentencing practices.
The letter, written by Greater Memphis Chamber President Ted Townsend, appears to have the support of the chamber’s Chairman’s Circle, which includes prominent private sector leaders from more than 80 Memphis businesses.
Townsend noted that Memphis “businesses and personal practices have normalized” in “the aftermath of the global pandemic” but warned that the city’s “judicial system and law enforcement agencies” have yet to recover from the pandemic’s effects.
“Shelby County is experiencing a resurgence of organized crime, an increase in violent crimes committed with a firearm and a sustained lack of criminal prosecution originally caused by the global pandemic,” he said.
Townsend attributed extreme delays in Shelby County courts and a rise in organized crime from street gangs to “the lack of criminal prosecutions in conjunction with ‘catch and release’ bail policies and the overwhelming use of sweetheart plea deals to resolve case load negligence.”
To address the crime surge, the Greater Memphis Chamber requested Lee provide $50 million “in block grant funding for crime reduction strategies using technology and human capital for Tourist Zones in Memphis,” and a “surge” of resources to Shelby County “to clear the county’s backlog,” including allowing judges from outside Shelby County to hear Memphis cases.
The Greater Memphis Chamber letter also requested that Lee back Taylor’s legislation to require bail decisions to be made by an elected judge rather than a judicial magistrate and restrict which judges can release defendants without bond and when such a release is appropriate. The Greater Memphis Chamber also wants the Tennessee General Assembly to pass Taylor’s bill allowing blended sentences for defendants who are 16 years or older at the time a crime is committed.
Taylor called crime in Memphis “out of control” in December 2023 after he sent a letter to Lee requesting support for the city, which he said was under “siege” from its criminal element. After Taylor sent his letter to Lee, the governor ordered up to 60 Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers in a Memphis “surge” that would continue indefinitely.
More recently, Taylor demanded the agreements between Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy’s office and purported “restorative justice” organizations seeking to eliminate bail and reduce the number of prosecutions handled by Mulroy.
McKinney Wright, the killer of former Greater Memphis Chamber CEO Phil Trenary, pleaded guilty to causing Trenary’s 2018 death in December 2023. Trenary was traveling between his home, located in a South Front neighborhood, and a chamber event when he was fatally shot in 2018.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Memphis Skyline” by Thomas R Machnitzki. CC BY-SA 3.0.
dear gov. please give that 50 million to the memphis police dept and tell the chamber .NO
Elect Democrats and this is what you get!