MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis woman on a mission to clean up her neighborhood says she’s been trying to get SkyCop cameras installed for the last year — but so far, those cameras aren’t coming.
Eve Davis has lived in the Fairlawn area near Lamar and I-240 for 33 years. It’s where all of her children were born and raised. But if you ask here what the neighborhood is like now, she says it’s “terrifying.”
“It’s a lot of terrifying things going on. A lot of killings in the area, a lot of shooting, a lot of spinouts right there in the four way,” Davis said.
Crime data from the city backs up her concerns. Over the last few months police have responded to calls for burglaries, aggravated assaults and vandalism.
It’s just one of the reasons she’s been pushing for SkyCop cameras to be placed throughout the neighborhood. She hopes they will deter the crime and other issues like illegal dumping.
“We need to come together and get those cameras so that this neighborhood can become better,” she said. “We don’t want thugs and criminals in here doing things that they are not supposed to be doing.”
But Davis says the process to get the cameras approved hasn’t been an easy one. She believes she’s getting the runaround from city and county leaders.
“I’ve talked to so many people that I’m just blue in the face,” she said. “Everybody’s been dropping the ball and passing the buck to someone else.”
WREG reached out to city and county leaders on her behalf and learned 188 more SkyCop cameras are expected to be installed in June.
That can’t come soon enough for this neighborhood watch coordinator, who is looking for more resources to keep her neighbors safe.
“Everyone has cameras in the area but Fairlawn,” Davis said. “So I’m wondering why are we being put in the back of the log when we’re right here in the inner city also.”
