Memphis Mayor Paul Young commits to reducing violent crime by 10% annually

During Memphis Mayor Paul Young's "100 First Days and Beyond" speech Tuesday evening, he vowed to make a 10% reduction in the violent crime rate each year and said he would be asking for a property tax increase.

"Our current budget gets us where we are, and we are just getting by, but I think it's time for us to step into a reality that allows us to flourish," Young said.

Young said that in order for the city to make large strides in increasing public safety, housing and bringing business into the city, more room in the budget is needed. He explained that while they can make things work with the current money in the city's revenue stream, more is needed to make the change needed to prosper.

More: Memphis Mayor Paul Young is seeking a property tax hike. Here's when and why

Young began his speech by holding a moment of silence for Memphis Police Department Officer Joseph McKinney, who was killed last week during a shootout.

In attendance during the speech were Interim Chief C.J. Davis, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, multiple Memphis City Council members and top city officials. The event garnered over 100 attendees, not all of whom were involved in city politics.

Since being in office, Young has set numerous goals for how the city plans to combat key issues like crime, blight reduction and building up economic development in the city. Young's transition team laid out the issues he hopes to tackle while in office in early March and he featured many of those proposal efforts during his speech.

The "Blight Strike Team" was a recommendation from the transition team. Young said that since its inception, the team has targeted 21 zip codes to combat blight, in addition to a partnership with the University of Memphis Law School to represent the city in public nuisance lawsuits.

The "One Memphis Town Hall Events" Young has been hosting over the last few months are not over, he said. There are plans for at least two additional meetings in the upcoming months.

Crime reduction efforts in full force

Young ran his campaign intently focused on combatting violent crime in the city. Tuesday, 107 days into office, in his own opinion, Young has made major strides in reducing crime in Memphis. He said that recent Tennessee Bureau of Investigations data says that crime is down compared to the same time last year, but there is more work to be done.

"If our residents, our business owners and visitors don't feel safe, the numbers don't matter," Young said.

Last year, Memphis was on track to break its single-year crime record which was set in 1996. By the end of June, crime was up 31% compared to that same time frame in 2022.

But Memphis did not break the crime record set almost 20 years ago. Crime fell over the last six months of 2023, and continued to drop through the first month of 2024, data from the Memphis Police Department indicated.

But, during the speech, Young committed to reducing violent crime by 10% for this year, and every year forward.

More: MPD: Memphis crime is mostly down, homicides create perception of 2023 crime increase

"We need to see our community trending in the right direction," Young said.

His speech also focused on the major political moves he has made since being in office. Within the first 100 days, Young has hosted mayors and public officials from around the country to talk about crime, worked with city council members to create a public safety commission and spoken with key stakeholders to promote crime reduction.

Last month, Young hosted the inaugural Black Mayors Coalition on Crime in partnership with the African American Mayors Association only three months into office. Young brought in mayors and top city officials from around the country to hash out problems and solutions as they relate to crime.

The crime summit was something Young touched on during his speech Tuesday night.

"We learned from our peers some of the proven strategies that have worked in their similar communities, programs and we can replicate here," Young said. "And together, that group, we agreed that we want to be pragmatic, we want to find a balance between philosophy and practicality."

Young also touted the proposed private-public partnership of a Public Safety Commission, inspired by one in Atlanta. Earlier this month, Young as well as sitting members of the Memphis City Council and representatives of the Greater Memphis Chamber, announced that the commission would be modeled after the Atlanta Police Foundation.

Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at brooke.muckerman@commercialappeal.com and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter @BrookeMuckerman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis Mayor Paul Young on violent crime reduction, tax hike