MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A neighborhood plagued with break-in after break-in is getting county and city leaders involved to take the area back.
The Avon Gardens Neighborhood Watch held a meeting Tuesday night, where organizers wanted Mayor A C Wharton to learn more about crime facing the 38122 area.
Wharton was scheduled to speak at the meeting, but a city spokesperson told WREG he would be unable to attend because of budget deliberations.
“We’re trying to get things back on track,” said Alan Pool with Neighborhood Watch.
In February, WREG discovered that over a two month period, Memphis Police responded to nearly 100 burglaries in the 38122 zip code.
Pool said since WREG’s story, his neighborhood has improved.
He believed there have been more police cars passing by.
He said the story helped make others in the neighborhood more aware of safety concerns.
“We’ve had more people show up to Neighborhood Watch which is a really good thing. Everybody seems to be watching everybody’s back,” Pool said.
Neighbor Daniel Hall said there are still major safety concerns.
He said he regularly sees strangers walking down his street.
MPD said they would get WREG updated burglary numbers for the 38122 area for the past two months.
A spokesperson confirmed officers have responded to 27 robberies in that zip code in that time period.
Also, MPD responded to 26 robberies in 38122 over the same two month period last year.
The extra push for change brought Mayor Mark Luttrell and his staff to an Avon Gardens Neighborhood Watch meeting a couple months ago.
The county led “drive throughs” in the area to spot problems contributing to crime, like blight or littered properties.
This Neighborhood Watch meets the third Tuesday of each month at New Church Memphis on Macon Road.
