MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Police said gang injunctions have been working to keep neighborhoods safe, but many living in those areas didn’t agree.
While covering a carjacking in the Dixie Homes Murda Gang territory last week, WREG found neighbors desperate to talk about ongoing problems.
During a hot June afternoon, Decatur Street and the surrounding area looked to be calm and quiet.
But neighbors said looks could be misleading, and in case of the Dixie Homes Murda Gang territory, they were.
“These days man, it’s dangerous,” Morris Hill said.
“It’s supposed to be a safe zone,” James Franklin added. “It’s supposed to be a safe zone. I call the police. They take three hours to get here, and then they’re gone.”
In October, the Multi agency Gang Unit descended on Decatur Street and vowed to arrest known gang members if they were found in public together.
Franklin said things were good for a while.
“When they first had the safe zone it was fine because the patrolled every day,” he said.
Now, he and other neighbors said they feel like they have to look out for themselves.
They told WREG there was gang activity, drug activity and illegal gambling.
“There’s always something going on in this area, this neighborhood where people are hanging out,” Hill said.
Many, like Franklin, feel like their pleas to police have fallen on deaf ears.
“That’s why I went and bought that sign right there. They try to park up here. They hide their [expletive] all in the bushes. The more you call, seems like the worse it gets,” he said.
The Memphis Police Department did not respond to a request WREG sent Monday, but District Attorney General Amy Weirich’s office did.
It told us the area was still patrolled by MPD and MGU.
But Franklin did not believe it and said without action, a gang injunction is just a piece of paper.
“I don’t know how it’s a safe zone when folks are standing around, and police pass through here. They don’t stop them, ask for ID or nothing,” he said.
