Major violent crimes — murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery — are down 23 percent in 2010 to date compared with the same time period in 2006, the year the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission launched the Operation Safe Community crime-fighting initiative.
Property crimes are down 28 percent to date compared with 2006, and there’s been a 13 percent drop in property crime from 2009 to 2010. However, domestic violence crimes continue to rise. There was a 9.5 percent increase in the number of reported simple assaults, most of which were domestic in nature, this year to date compared with 2006.
More than 60 public and private agencies are involved in Operation Safe Community, which uses 15 strategies to fight crime. Some of those include expanding data-driven policing, toughening state gun laws, reducing the caseload per prosecutor in the Shelby County District Attorney’s office, and expanding juvenile offender re-entry programs.
