Meetings tonight(12/13) at 6pm
Airways Station, 2234 Truitt Street
Raines Station, 791 E. Raines Road
Mt. Moriah Station, 2602 Mt. Moriah Road
Ridgeway Station, 3840 Ridgeway Road
Appling Farms Station, 6850 Appling Farms Parkway
Old Allen Station, 3633 Old Allen Road
Tillman Station, 426 Tillman Street
Union Station will take place at the new Crump Station, 949 E. Crump Boulevard
South Main Station will take place at Downtown Memphis Commission, 114 N. Main Street
(Memphis) When you’re the victim of a crime every second matters.
The Memphis Police Department is regrouping to make sure they can get to you even faster when you need them the most.
At the beginning of the year, the department will reorganize all the precincts to improve crime fighting.
They are also shelling out more money for overtime pay.
Tuesday, city council members heard the department’s plans to redraw police precinct lines.
Councilman Kemp Conrad thinks it’s a great idea, “They’re trying to equalize call volume. You know some precincts are much larger than others.”
Precincts like Old Allen will shrink, while Ridgeway will grow.
The department says precincts like Mt. Moriah will be redrawn, making it easier to manage because it won’t be so spread out.
The new precincts will make response times quicker and even out the number of officers per precinct and the area they have to cover.
Councilwoman Janis Fullilove believes it will also keep officer more accountable, “We’ve had so much trouble with so many officers I think we are just going to have more people who are going to have to answer to the director and make sure everything is going smoothly in that precinct.”
The police department is also boosting crime fighting tactics, including more patrols in some of the more dangerous spots in the city.
This means spending more on overtime, but the money will come out of their budget and they’re not asking for more from the city council.
“We want to make sure that if police need more money to fight crime that the council gives them the funds for that,” said Conrad.
Overtime spending has actually been down in recent years, falling from about $12.1 million in 2009 to just $10.6 million last year.