Media

“Zero Tolerance” Crime Suppression Effort With Memphis Police Department Targeted High Crime Neighborhoods This Past Weekend

Release Date: October 17, 2005

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and Memphis Police Department worked jointly this past Friday night (October 14) in a major crime suppression effort in various parts of Memphis and in South-East Shelby County.

Deputies from various divisions of the Sheriff’s Office rounded up wanted persons, conducted search warrants and addressed street crime. Additionally, a special team of deputy jailers from the Shelby County Jail set up a satellite intake area at the Memphis Police Central Precinct on Tillman Street to process more than 250 people who were arrested during the crime suppression initiative. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Division captured 52 of those persons.

“The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office was pleased to be part of this very successful operation with the Memphis Police Department. By combining resources, we were very effective in addressing lots of crime associated with criminal gangs,” said Sheriff Mark Luttrell, Jr.

While most of the officers focused their efforts in high crime areas in Memphis, about 50 deputies and support personnel from the Sheriff’s Emergency Services bureau also patrolled areas of South-East Shelby County for several hours Friday night and into early Saturday morning.

Deputies took a “zero tolerance” approach to all crimes in South-East Shelby County. Here are the results of the crime suppression effort in those neighborhoods:

• Physical Arrests-Six (6) 3 felony, 3 misdemeanor
• Misdemeanor Citations-Ten (10)-Booking at a later date and mandatory court appearance
• Drugs Recovered-19.7 grams of marijuana and $900.00
• Traffic Citations-51
• Traffic Courtesy Tickets-44

“Crime in Shelby County is seamless. It’s vital the Sheriff’s Office and Memphis Police Department work together to interdict crime in our community. Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin and I believe these joint crime suppression efforts will help our neighborhoods and business districts stay as safe as possible. These “zero tolerance” crime suppression initiatives will be on-going,” added Sheriff Luttrell.