Funds running low for Memphis violence intervention program
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The City of Memphis is struggling to get a grip on violent crime, and 2023 was listed as the deadliest year yet.
The former mayor introduced a program hoping it would help make a difference, but two years later, funding is running out and some policy makers are questioning it.
The Group Violence Intervention Program was implemented in 2022 as a collaboration between police and community groups. It targets the small group of people committing the majority of the deadly violence. The City of Memphis touted it as a proactive crime-fighting tool.
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When a shooting happens, they asses, try to intervene and offer supportive services.
The city partnered with 901 B.L.O.C. Squad to manage the intervention program within the streets and schools and even got them to scale up their staff to 100 people.
“If you take our team away and others in the cities like us, our shootings would be triple,” said 901 B.L.O.C.’s Executive Director Delvin Lane told us when it launched.
The Public Safety Institute has been evaluating their work.
Today, they released their findings, stating last year 901 B.L.O.C. Squad made contact with more than 1,800 people at risk of committing violence and even more youth. Memphis police also reached out to those at risk for retaliatory violence and encouraged them to attend meetings where they could connect them to supportive services.
From the data that has been gathered, most people at those meetings were not rearrested.
The evaluation also stated the program is nearing “successful implementation,” and they will gather more data in the future to further gauge whether it is reducing violence.
MPD admitted to the council last week that they are tweaking their strategy, like requiring meetings.
“The people committing the crimes aren’t necessarily the folks being touched,” Interim Chief CJ Davis said.
Some council members questioned if they were getting a return on their investment.
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Other cities have scaled up similar programs. Some have spent $10 million on street outreach, and cited significant crime reductions. Memphis has allocated $4.5 million, more than half coming from COVID relief funding, which is running out.
WREG Investigators found out 901 B.L.O.C. Squad had to furlough some of their employees, because the city could not pay them.
Mayor Paul Young said in his budget, he will propose to continue to fund violence intervention work.
“We feel like it’s a critical part of our path to reduce violence in our community,” said Young.
The mayor met with Councilman Jeff Warren on Wednesday, and they discussed the program.
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“We are going to need more income at the city than we have right now, because we’ve already run out of money this year for them,” said Warren.
Warren said he believes in the program, and there’s evidence that shows it will work. He said the program needed two to three years to get going and is now on track to make a difference by lowering the homicide rate by 10%.
“We are not going to cut our way to a lower crime rate. We have a problem and have to address it, and it’s going to take money for us to do that,” he said.
We reached out to the mayor’s office to get more details as to the program’s next steps while next year’s budget is being worked. We are waiting to hear back.
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