Added Memphis police officers will be a 'permanent fixture' after downtown mass shooting

After its first weekend in place, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis told Memphis City Council members that the newly enacted downtown traffic plan will be consistently in place, and that "permanent personnel" will be stationed there going forward.

Currently, Davis said, the Memphis Police Department is "borrowing" officers to add to the police presence following a mass shooting that left eight people injured .

"We plan to have this as a permanent fixture in that downtown area on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights," Davis said Tuesday. "As far as we could see, just being out there, the crowds were lively, they were peaceful, they were enjoying themselves and that's what we hope for."

Friday night was the first day MPD established what it calls a "pedestrian corridor" around Beale Street. That corridor consists of additional units, barricades and traffic being diverted away from the area with hopes that it will reduce the number of people driving recklessly around people walking to businesses on the street and deter violence.

In addition to the added uniformed officers around the street, Davis said the Downtown Memphis Commission placed metal detectors at the Beale Street entrance through the W.C. Handy Park entrance, which she said effectively removed weapons from the street.

"They're not unsightly," Davis said. "They're a very discreet way of knowing whether or not someone has a weapon on them walking into that area. We believe that those metal detectors are going to be important to add to all of the entrances... We plan to assist in acquiring these metal detectors as well."

Davis also said she plans to see if the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, which was called in for assistance over the weekend, will be able to have a dedicated complement of deputies stationed with the MPD officers. She said Tuesday morning she had not had a conversation with Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner yet, but that it could be arranged.

Tuesday afternoon, Bonner spoke during the Memphis City Council meeting and said he would always lend a hand to MPD. Bonner, who is also running for Memphis mayor, was called to speak on a last-minute resolution requesting a permanent complement of deputies be stationed downtown.

"We were down at Beale Street, as requested, by the Memphis Police Department," Bonner said. "I want it to be known that I, Sheriff Bonner, have never said 'no' to the Memphis Police Department, nor do I intend to say 'no' to the Memphis Police Department. All we have to do is get an ask... We will do whatever needs to be done to keep our citizens safe, and to cover the front door of our city, which is Beale Street and downtown."

Bonner added that he has not yet received the plans for the pedestrian corridor or been invited to the table, but said he is sure that those conversations will be had in the future.

MPD's impound lot is steadily clearing out

The status of MPD's impound lot was also touched on Tuesday morning. The lot has been subject to a number of conversations at Memphis City Hall due to an overcrowding of cars.

Since the start of the year, MPD Deputy Chief Paul Wright said, there has been a 19% decrease in the number of cars that are parked in the lot. Over the last three months, over 2,000 vehicles were taken off the lot by someone in either a release or an auction, with about 28% of cars being auctioned off and the other 72% being released, according to data MPD presented Tuesday morning.

The lot has had 1,850 cars towed to it in that same time span.

Part of the help in clearing the lot has been towing cars to other, private-owned lots, Wright said.

"If you get an opportunity to go out to the lot, you will actually see that there has been movement," he said.

Although the lot has been clearing out slightly, Memphis City Councilman Chase Carlisle said he wants to have another meeting with MPD to discuss old ordinances that could be hindering the number of cars that are auctioned off, citing one that only allows people to purchase six cars per year unless they are authorized dealers.

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He also raised concerns about internal policies at the police department that places the towing fee on residents when they go to pick up their car, regardless of if it was stolen.

"To the general public, there is nothing sexy about the impound lot," Carlisle said. "But to the industry, and the ripple effect that has occurred because it's the thing that nobody wants to deal with, it has bubbled over...and it's a public safety issue."

MPD Assistant Chief Shawn Jones said part of why more cars have not been auctioned off was because there was only one auction hosted in July. He said that should be remedied this month, and that the trajectory of cars leaving the lot is "trending in the right direction."

"We are trending in the right direction," Jones said. "There's a decrease. I think over the next three to six months that number will be significantly decreased with what we see today if the trajectory of decrease continues."

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at  Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com  and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: MPD Chief Davis: Downtown Memphis pedestrian corridor is here to stay