The Downtown safety patrol has had some big successes in the past 5 months. Most recently they found out the name of the panhandler who has been asking for money claiming it’s a donation for St. Jude. During their first 12 weeks on the job, they responded to 476 requests from Downtown residents and visitors, mostly panhandling requests.
Downtown is statistically the safest neighborhood in Memphis, but like many urban areas, it sees its share of quality of life crimes like panhandling, public intoxication, and disorderly conduct. This can cause visitors to conclude that Downtown is not safe, and keep them from wanting to come back and spend money at Downtown businesses.
The Downtown safety patrol runs from 8 AM-9 PM Sunday-Wednesday and 8 AM-11 PM Thursday-Saturday. There are two officers on bike on duty during these hours. They have received 36 hours of training from private security firm CDA, Inc., and 28 additional hours of training by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department. (One of those hours of training was provided by myself and Handling-Panhandling co-founder Mike King. We educated them on common panhandling gimmicks and gave them color printouts with photos and MO’s of some of Downtown’s most active aggressive panhandlers.) They stay in regular communication with the Memphis Police and can call them in if a situation warrants it. Also, by being on the streets 13-15 hours a day, they have learned where the true hotspots are for panhandling and other crimes, and they have passed this data onto MPD so officers can be utilized more effectively.
The program costs $200,000 to operate, and will not be able to continue if funding is not provided by stakeholders and business owners. Suggested donations for businesses include
- $250/year for businesses with less than 5 employees
- $500/year for 6-25 employees
- $1000/year for 25-50 employees
- $2500/year for 50-100 employees
- $5000/year for more than 1000 employees
Contributions are tax deductible. You can contact Larry Bloom at bloom@downtownmemphis.com or at 901-575-0562 if you would like to contribute.
Please forward this post to Downtown business owners. If you remember how things were before April 1 – when the panhandlers and thugs had free run of the streets – then you understand how vital it is to keep the Downtown safety patrol in place.