Memphis police leaders say the department needs more officers to help deal with Downtown safety issues that range from drag racing to traffic jams. 

Police leadership discussed the issues Wednesday, Aug. 25, with board members of the Downtown Memphis Commission.

Paul Young, the commission’s president, said the group held a series of meetings in June with Downtown stakeholders who pointed out safety issues that, in addition to drag racing and traffic jams, included reckless driving, scooters, cruising and parking lot and garage safety.

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“After some of the initial (COVID) restrictions were relaxed in the early spring, we started to see some behavior Downtown that was not what we were used to,” Young said. “We saw crazy, erratic driving. It was not just happening in Memphis but across the country. We wanted to be sure we were being proactive to put together some solutions to solve these challenges.”

MPD Asst. Chief Don Crowe told the board the department has to shore up its ranks to deal with the issues.

“Our most valuable asset that we have are our officers, and we are so woefully understaffed that I just can’t explain it,” Crowe said.

He said MPD’s goal is to increase the department’s current force of 2,020 officers to 2,300 officers in the next two years, but he called it a “very aggressive” goal because the department is losing about 130 officers a year to retirement and resignations.

Crowe told the board members Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis could not attend Wednesday’s meeting but assured them that Davis was learning about the issues facing Downtown. Crowe said he and Davis spent the July 4 holiday on Beale Street.

“One of the things that Chief Davis and I saw on July 4, going into July 5, ... was no security there. And once the younger people realized there was no entry fee to Beale Street, no security check for ID’s, it was like a flash mob. And it was like they all got on their cellphones and called and said ‘come on down,’ ” Crowe said.

“And Beale Street by midnight and 1 a.m. was just overwhelmed with very young people throwing fireworks at our police officers and throwing fireworks into the crowd to get a reaction.”

He said one recommendation from MPD is to install better lighting on Beale Street that can be controlled.

Crowe said the North Main precinct officers, which patrols Downtown, have arrested 77 people this year for reckless driving and four people for drag racing.

MPD Deputy Chief Paul Wright said officers have seen a lot of pop-up parking lot parties Downtown and have had to post officers in parking lots to deal with the problem. He said since officers have been stationed there, the impromptu parties have lessened in frequency.

He said MPD created a traffic enforcement detail Downtown to deal with the increase in reckless driving and drag racing. He said a lot of the drivers were coming from Mississippi and Arkansas, and MPD has made 541 arrests for reckless driving citywide this year.

DMC Board member Jim Crone asked Wright what police were doing about reckless driving on the interstate, which he said was “insane.”

Wright pointed to the department’s recently launched Slow Down Memphis campaign in which MPD has partnered with the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office to patrol the highways to curb reckless driving.

Since the campaign started, Wright said through Slow Down Memphis police have issued 2,800 traffic tickets, made 238 arrests for drag racing and reckless driving and seized 43 weapons.