MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The excitement surrounding the installation of new Skycop cameras was clear as Whitehaven residents braved the freezing temperatures to watch.
“It was a labor of love.”
Julius Holly, a member of the Watchful Eye Neighborhood Association, has been part of the push to get Memphis Police Skycop cameras up in the neighborhood he’s lived in for 20 years.
“You can wait for things to happen or you can make things happen.”
We’ve been with the association through the years as they worked to make their goals a reality. They’ve passed out flyers in the sweltering heat and advertised at local flea markets to raise money.
The city of Memphis awarded the association $2,500 for the cameras, but they had to match the donation, raising another $2,500.
“The more you come together and the more you stick together the more you can do.”
“You have to build, you have to go out and politic, you have to raise money.”
We dug into the numbers. Since January 2018 there have been 100 reported violent incidents of some kind within a half mile radius of the new camera’s location.
Holly knows a camera won’t necessarily stop a crime but can deter it by letting people someone is paying attention.
“We want to be able to come out of our homes, go to the mailbox, leave our cars in our driveways.”
