‘Heartbeat of our city.’ Officials looking for ways to keep downtown safe

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A 44-year-old man was shot and killed off Beale Street and Fourth over the weekend, the latest instance of violence downtown.

But as calls grow for more officers to cover the center of tourism and entertainment in Memphis, the county sheriff’s office says it may be stretched too thin to provide more.

“Downtown is the heartbeat of our city,” said Jerred Price, President of the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Memphis. “It’s where all our tourists go, everyone from all over the city goes to.”

Hours after Benjamin Murrell’s fatal shooting near Beale, Memphis Police told WREG that a man was shot after arguing with a group. Investigators found 18 shell casings at the scene.

So far, detectives have not publicly given a possible motive in Murrell’s case, but the large nearby police presence witnesses told WREG about did nothing to stop the violence.

Officers recognize that there’s work to be done, which is why the Memphis Police started Operation Saturday Night Live .

“We know that we have a lot of problematic areas,” Col. Dennis McNeil said. “We heard the complaints from the residents, from the skateboarders, from the business owners.”

Initiating traffic stops and targeting certain areas of downtown has netted dozens of arrests. Officers say it’s been working.

“Just to make sure that the bad actors know that we’re out there and we want everyone to be in compliance,” McNeil said.

Price said that he’s pleased with MPD implementing initiatives like Operation Saturday Night Live, but acknowledges that they can only do so much.

“We see the dangerous situations happen consistently between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m,” Price said. “And we’ve noticed this is when the police presence decreases the most.”

A few weeks ago, Price’s team sent a letter to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office asking for extra help.

“We asked the Sheriff’s Office to allocate 10 to 12 Sheriff deputies between those peak hours of 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. If we get the Sheriff’s Office to complement the MPD that’s already down there, working and doing their due diligence to fight against this activity,” Price said. “This isn’t just about downtown. Having a downtown that is safe and prosperous in any city is a sign that the city is doing well and it helps every neighborhood.”

However, the Sheriff’s Office said it’s stretched thin on resources too and acknowledged that overtime will be tougher now since deputies make more.

With our current shortage of deputies, filling the request to patrol the downtown area would take a lot of work. Earlier this year, we had to reassign 39 deputies from street duty to cover shortages inside the jail. These deputies are responsible for transporting inmates from the jail to the hospital for medical services, resulting in 39 fewer deputies on the streets than last year. With our budget recently approved by the county commission, we are currently examining how to allocate overtime funds effectively. The overtime cost will increase as the sheriff’s office staff is set to receive a pay raise in January. We must ensure that our budget can accommodate these additional expenses if we commit to using overtime to assist with patrolling the downtown area.”

Shelby County Sheriff’s Office

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