MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The city of Memphis has seen an increase in crime from this time last year, according to numbers from September.
Auto thefts are one of the biggest drivers of crime in Memphis. That’s the word from Memphis Police as they presented their monthly crime update to council members Tuesday.
“If we could get rid of auto thefts in the city, our crime in the city would be down, significantly down,” Chief Davis said.
Councilman Dr. Jeff Warren asked the question so many in Memphis have:
“I mean what are we doing? What can people do? I mean it seems like there’s a ton of them. I mean where are they all going?” Councilman Warren said.
Chief CJ Davis says that’s not just the question in Memphis but across the country. Departments nationally are trying to figure out how to combat auto thefts.
“Right now there’s sort of gangs that call themselves the Kia Boys and the Kia Boys are all over the country right now, they’ve captioned that name so to speak,” Chief Davis said.
Davis says new technology in vehicles and savvy criminals using technology, even iPads, to steal cars have added to the problems.
“I’ll be at two precincts tonight, trying to educate our community members also about not leaving their cars running, you know we still see community members leaving their cars running, as we get into the colder months you find that to be more prevalent,” Davis said.
The chief also talked about the issue of juveniles committing some of these crimes.
She says she is optimistic about upcoming partnerships with Youth Villages and new juvenile programs with the juvenile court.
Meanwhile, there was good news in September. The number of homicides in the Bluff City is down by 10 last month compared to the same time last year.
