Mayor-elect says accountability key to slowing crime

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - We’re hearing from Memphis Mayor-Elect Paul Young about the issues our city faces as he prepares to take office.

Young was at Benjamin L. Hooks Library on Thursday to read to Dexter Elementary School children.

After reading, he spoke on diversity and how important it is to the city’s future.

As outgoing president of the Downtown Memphis Commission, he was asked about how recent crime in the Downtown area is continuing to impact the city.

Young said it is critical to hold individuals accountable — especially those who are repeat offenders.

”The other part of the equation has to be intervention and prevention,” Young said. “When we know who these young people are, these individuals that are creating the crimes in our communities, we should be proactive and interjecting some opportunities in their lives that are active in our community to get them engaged.”

Young said some of that work is already underway, touching on his “pandemic-like” response to the crime we are seeing.

He says his team is doing outreach now and is having discussions with the district attorney’s office, Memphis police and the sheriff’s office to work on that collaborative approach to slowing crime.

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