Media

County Crime Suppression Effort Yields 38 Arrests in South-East Shelby County

Release Date: August 16, 2003

Sheriff Mark Luttrell, Jr. said today that law enforcement partnerships between the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, the Memphis Police Department and the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office are continuing to have an impact on curbing crime in targeted areas of Memphis and Shelby County.

Last night and early this morning almost 70 law enforcement officers assisted by a special prosecutor from the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, conducted a crime suppression effort in the Hickory Hill and Ragan Farms area in South East Shelby County.

“Concerns voiced by residents and our crime statistics pointed to the need to combine our resources in these neighborhoods. Many of the crimes being committed in this part of Memphis and Shelby County are connected to criminal gangs,” said Sheriff Mark Luttrell, Jr.

The saturation area was bounded by:

• North-Shelby Drive
• South-State Line Road
• East-Riverdale
• West-Hickory Hill

Additionally, officers took a “zero tolerance” approach to all crimes in the area, including drivers under the influence, speeding, seat belt and child restraint violations.

Here are the results of the crime suppression effort:

• Total arrests: 38
• Felonies-2
• Misdemeanors-36
• Traffic Citations-152
• Traffic Courtesy Tickets-31

Of the 38 people arrested, 28 were fugitives wanted by law enforcement agencies in Shelby County.

Sheriff Mark Luttrell asks the public for its continued help to capture fugitives by going to the Sheriff’s Office website: www.shelby-sheriff.org and clicking on the “Warrants OnLine” section. All names of known fugitives appear. All tips are confidential.

Hickory Hill and the Ragan Farms neighborhoods join the list of several areas that have been targeted for crime suppression efforts during the past several months. Almost 200 people have been arrested during the neighborhood crime sweeps.