MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A new public safety advisor has been announced for Memphis on Wednesday, according to Mayor Paul Young.
The mayor announced that Darren M. Goods, a former MPD Colonel, is taking on the job.
The city says this is about bringing together how police enforce, with community-based violence intervention and prevention.
Last Friday, Kermiracle Futrell, mother of Jamarion Payne, a two-year-old, was shot to death in Orange Mound after playing catch with his uncle. She says is not ready to let her son go.
“I’m angry, I’m frustrated, I’m hurt,” said Kermiracle Futrell, mother.
“I want the public to know that we’re not going to be deterred, and I want them to continue to lean in as well and work with our young people, speak life into those young people,” said Memphis Mayor Paul Young.
Darren Goods, a former Colonel and Commander of the Investigative Services Bureau with the Memphis Police Department, will oversee the Group Violence Intervention Program and the Joint Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.
The city says he has more than 35 years of law enforcement and juvenile justice experience.
WREG spoke with Goods in 2017 about the exhaustive search for those responsible for killing 2-year-old Laylah Washington. The little girl was killed in a road rage incident.
“This was probably one of the most senseless acts of violence that I have ever seen, and it is exceptionally frustrating that we are not getting the assistance from the citizens that we would normally get,” said Goods.
Laylah’s killers were eventually caught.
The President of the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission says Goods’s long tenure with MPD gives him knowledge of tackling crime, but his service as the deputy commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services has given him hands-on experience with prevention and intervention steps as well.
The city says Goods’ position is funded in part by the Crime Commission’s Business Roundtable, part of a public-private partnership to reduce crime in the city.
The city also says Goods is a contractor through the Crime Commission, and the city’s portion of the contract is $100,000 per year. It’s unclear what, if any, additional money for that comes from the crime commission.