There will be a National Night Out party in Court Square this coming Tuesday, August 7, from 4 to 7 PM. MPD Director Larry Godwin will hold a press conference at 4, and then at 5 there will be live music. There will be food and family-friendly games as well. This is a yearly event, held all over the country to promote neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships.
All the top brass of the Memphis Police Department will likely be there. This is an incredible opportunity for Downtowners to talk to the top cops and let them know how panhandling is ruining our neighborhood. So come on out and let’s express our frustrations. Be respectful, but at the same time let them know you’re fed up.
The stories that are most likely to get attention are those where the panhandling is clearly aggressive – where you felt threatened or intimidated to give money. Instances where panhandlers commit other crimes, such as the bums on Beale Street charging for cars to park in lots and metered spaces, would be good to talk about too.
One note: There will be several of these National Night Out events around town, and Directory Godwin will probably travel around the city to attend all of them. So if you want to talk to the Director, you may want to take off work an hour early and get down to Court Square by 4:00.
I’m going to try to get Downtown’s highest-ranking officers on the Handling-Panhandling online forum (which added its 122nd member today), so they can see for themselves how sick people are of the constant aggressive begging. I’ll be at the National Night Out event Tuesday, and so will the forum’s co-moderator Mike King. Hope to see you there.