MEMPHIS, Tenn. – “It’s a great neighborhood. It’s been here a long time. A lot of families been here 30 to 40 years,” said a man as he described his East Memphis neighborhood.
It’s an area folks talked about with pride, but for the last year one house has had them on edge.
“Cars coming and going, coming and going. Stop 3 to 5 minutes and there 3 to 5 minutes and move on,” said one neighbor. “It makes you kind of suspicious that other things are going on besides people bringing groceries to their grandmother.”
WREG staked out cameras to see what the neighbors meant.
It didn’t take long before we saw a succession of cars pull in for a few minutes, sometimes they went in, other times people came out.
In minutes they were gone.
It happened again and again.
When the sun went down, the activity didn’t stop.
Vehicle after vehicle stopped to make visits, feeding the neighbors’s suspicions that this was about drugs and their happy homes might be in danger.
“Number one, it’s bad if you want to take a walk. You feel challenged. You don’t know who is driving up and down the street,” said the neighbor. “Police need to know so they can at least investigate.”
The Shelby County Nuisance Program was touted as the way for neighbors to help police crack down on crime.
Citizens would call anonymously about suspected drug activity.
We were there in mid January when one fed up neighbor made the call.
“What type of activity are you seeing?” the dispatcher asked.
“Miscellaneous people driving up in cars, stopping 3 to 4 minutes and then meet at the window and drive off,” answered the neighbor.
“What we are gonna do is send someone out sir to do a surveillance on the house to see if they see what you are seeing,” said the dispatcher.
Attorney Paul Hagerman with the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office said he gets a lot of the calls.
He told WREG he works with the Organized Crime Unit to determine if crimes were going on and to get the houses shut down.
“It’s putting everybody in that neighborhood at risk. It’s decreasing the quality of their life. It’s jeopardizing their safety and it’s a recipe for disaster,” said Hagerman.
He said frustration sets in when citizens don’t see swift action.
They think their calls were ignored.
“It takes time, and sometime it’s frustrating for the neighbors. It takes an investigation. It takes some time. The police officers have to do surveillance on the house and other investigative stuff to gather the evidence,” Hagerman explained.
When they do get enough evidence, the D.A. takes the case to Environmental Court for an order to board up the property.
It happened earlier this month at a house on Faxon.
“It was over the course of 4 months, police officers were utilizing resources to investigate the house, making buys of cocaine from the house. Now 4 months later it’s closed, but to a neighbor living next to it, it’s a damn long time,” said Hagerman about the house on Faxon Street.
As for the house in East Memphis, it could take longer.
No one can say for sure, but investigators said the case must be built so it can stick and neighbors can get what they want.
“I would just hope someone comes and investigates. If something illegal is going on, shut it down,” said the neighbor.
Since the Drug Eviction Program started, 4,000 tenants have been removed.
More than 400 properties have been boarded up, including businesses, just from the nuisance tips citizens have called in.
So people are encouraged to continue to call when they suspect illegal activity.
Call 901-528-2338 or call 528-DOPE.
