FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEMPHIS, TN – United States Senator Lamar Alexander joined Operation: Safe Community leaders Wednesday to highlight major new funding for the crime fighting plan and announce Team Leaders who are assuming important roles in getting the plan implemented. The new funding announced by the group totals $14,773,918.

District Attorney Bill Gibbons, who chairs the Operation: Safe Community effort, called the new funding and announcement of Team Leaders “major steps showing our joint commitment to get this plan implemented. Too many plans set on shelves and collect dust. We will not let that happen,” he said.

Operation: Safe Community is a comprehensive strategic plan, the implementation of which is designed to “make the Memphis community one of the safest of its size in America.”

“Operation: Safe Community is a good example of different law enforcement agencies and others in the community working together to combat crime in the greater Memphis area,” said Senator Alexander, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee that oversees funding for the effort. “I thank District Attorney General Gibbons, Mayor Herenton, Mayor Wharton, Dr. Raines and others for their leadership in this initiative, and I look forward to cleaner streets and safer neighborhoods for Memphians across the city.”

Senator Alexander spearheaded an effort for a special federal appropriation to support Operation: Safe Community. He was supported in his efforts by U.S. Senator Bob Corker, Congressman Steve Cohen, and other members of the Tennessee congressional delegation.

Memphis Mayor W. W. Herenton highlighted recent action by the Memphis City Council to provide funding for parts of the Operation: Safe Community plan. “The Memphis City Council has taken an important step to move the plan forward, and it has my full support,” Memphis Herenton said.

Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton commended county and state legislative leaders for stepping forward to fund portions of the plan. “It is going to take all of us, from all levels of government, working together with the community to tackle the crime problem in Memphis and Shelby County,” Mayor Wharton said.

Gibbons noted that implementation of the plan was “in its second critical year. The question is whether we have the will and determination to get this done. We now have Team Leaders in place for every strategy. They can’t do it alone. Each will need a team working with them, but they are stepping forward to take the lead in moving our community in the right direction.”

The following 17 persons were announced by Gibbons as the Team Leaders:

• County Commissioner Mike Carpenter
• Memphis City Schools Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash
• City Councilman Harold Collins
• State Representative John DeBerry
• City of Memphis Community Enhancement Director Ernest Dobbins
• City Councilman Shea Flinn
• Memphis Police Department Director Larry Godwin
• City Councilman Reid Hedgepeth
• University of Memphis Professor of Criminology Richard Janikowski
• State Senator Jim Kyle
• Acting U.S. Attorney Larry Laurenzi
• Shelby County Sheriff Mark Luttrell
• County Commissioner Deidre Malone
• State Senator Mark Norris
• Juvenile Court Judge Curtis Person
• Shelby County Schools Superintendent Bobby Webb
• County Mayor A C Wharton

The Memphis Shelby Crime Commission is overseeing the implementation and updating of the Operation: Safe Community plan.

Operation: Safe Community is the public safety “arm” of Memphis Fast Forward, a comprehensive economic growth initiative spearheaded by Memphis Tomorrow, Mayor Wharton, Mayor Herenton, and the Memphis Regional Chamber. Memphis Fast Forward is comprised of strategic plans in four arenas: economic development, public safety, human capital development, and government efficiency.

“Memphis Fast Forward is about taking Memphis from good to great; and safe streets are certainly an essential ingredient of greatness. Operation: Safe Community is the roadmap by which we can give our children and families, our employers and our workforce, our neighbors and our friends, the sense of safety that we ALL need to flourish and prosper,” says Gary Shorb, CEO of Methodist Healthcare and chair of Memphis Tomorrow.

Operation: Safe Community also released a list of exactly what steps it will take to totally implement each strategy. “We want the community to understand clearly what it is we are trying to accomplish,” Gibbons said.

OSC Funding Developments Handout 10-22-08

OSC Strategy Update October 2008 Handout 10-22-08

CONTACT: Jennifer Donnals
Communications Director
Shelby County D.A.’s Office
901-545-5988