MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Federal authorities agree with police and the public in Memphis that crime is getting out of control, so the Justice Department’s top official came to Memphis on Wednesday with a new plan for reducing crime.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker was in town as he announced a new unit that will focus on gun crime.
“I’m announcing a new Memphis Crime Gun Strike Force,” he said.
Crime concerns are on Reginald Johnson’s mind so much that he gave his home surveillance system a prominent spot on his living room.
No less than six working camera feeds are on a wall-mounted television.
“I had to because I just felt that I needed more protection,” Johnson said.
He’s been keeping a closer eye on his cameras since his son was shot dead four years ago. But he longs for a day when he’ll be able to let his guard down and hopes that this might be a start.
In Memphis another person was shot on Wednesday, and Whitaker points to 283 armed carjackings in Memphis so far in 2018. That’s a 63 percent increase from 2017. At least 13 people had been shot in a single weekend earlier this month.
Johnson shares that concern, but he’s not sure if the handful of ATF agents and Memphis police officers manning the Strike Force will be enough to break a deep-seated culture of silence.
It’s a culture that’s kept his son’s murder shrouded in mystery all of these years.
“I don’t care how many people that you bring in. If people don’t talk, it ain’t gonna solve no crime.”
The attorney general is thinking the Strike Force will expand soon.
They’re talking about possibly teaming up with some agencies aside from the Memphis Police Department. But there’s no timetable for when that will happen.