PARTNERSHIPS & INITIATIVES

There are a number of ways to get involved with your community and to help the MPD keep our neighborhoods safe. 
Get to know your neighbors. Consider forming a Neighborhood Watch Group in your neighborhood. Join your Precinct’s Citizens Police Academy.

Be our EYES & EARS: The MOST important thing YOU can do is CALL THE POLICE to report a CRIME or any SUSPICIOUS activity. You have to be the eyes of your neighborhood. And remember, you can always remain a pair of anonymous eyes!

Consider the MPD programs and initiatives listed below:

The Community Outreach Program (C.O.P.) is an MPD initiative that was developed through the restructuring of the Co-Acts to better serve the community relative to community policing and the reduction of juvenile violence. Its redevelopment began in 2011 and became active March 10, 2012.

The unit consists of officers who are provided target areas from data gathered with the assistance of the University of Memphis. These officers address the problems in the target areas through a three-prong approach: identification, enforcement, and education.

PROGRAMS
Black History Knowledge Bowl
Hoops Challenge
Real Talk
Clergy Police Academy
School Supply Drive
Citizen’s Police Academy

The National Neighborhood Watch program is one of the oldest and most well-known crime prevention concepts in history that stresses community awareness and teamwork. Neighborhood Watch in Memphis was officially formulated in 1984. It is an organization which empowers local citizens to take back and maintain a better quality of life in their respective neighborhoods. This program has shown that citizens help in the reduction of local crime by being vigilant and by partnering with local law enforcement to address the crime related issues and economical challenges within their community.
LEARN MORE – PROGRAM PDF
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH CHECKLIST – PDF

National Night Out and ‘Memphis’s Night Out Against Crime,’ are community events designed to increase citizens’ awareness regarding police programs in the communities; identify resources available for needy families (such as Neighborhood Watch and other anti-crime efforts like “Feed the Need” and various camps for children that are free). The Command Staff and Crime Prevention officers attend as many meeting as possible during this city wide one day event to advise citizens on the need for crime prevention and the importance of communities watching out for crime, criminal behavior, and quality of life issues in their respective neighborhoods.

The Crisis Intervention Team program is a community partnership working with mental health consumers and family members. Our goal is to set a standard of excellence for our officers with respect to treatment of individuals with mental illness. This is done by establishing individual responsibility for each event and overall accountability for the results. Officers will be provided with the best quality training available, they will be part of a specialized team which can respond to a crisis at any time and they will work with the community to resolve each situation in a manner that shows concern for the citizen’s well being.

In May of 1996, Former Director Winfrey announced the creation of the Critical Incident Services Program (CIS) to establish a comprehensive stress management program for Police Services personnel. The CIS program utilizes officers as peer counselors under the auspices of trained psychologists for crisis debriefings.

Debriefing guidelines, both voluntary and mandatory, are being utilized to assist officers and police personnel after a crisis event. Experiences may include a traumatizing scene such as a critical injury or death of a child, accidents involving fatalities, events where an officer has been placed in extreme peril, and any officer involved shooting.

On one occasion the CIS program provided much needed services to several officers during a traumatic and critical event in which a fellow officer was slain in the line of duty.

Since the inception of the CIS program, the Memphis Police Department has responded to inquiries from other law enforcement agencies seeking assistance and information.

Blue CRUSH™ . . . A Research Partner/Police Collaboration on Data-Driven Street Operation. The successes of the MPD’s Operation Blue CRUSH™ pilot operation in 2005 suggested a need for a sustained, integrated law enforcement approach in all parts of the city where street crime has adversely affected the quality of life for our citizens.

Operation Blue CRUSH™ 2005 categorically reduced crime in areas of the city where the methodology was implemented. These “hot spots” of crime were identified using statistical data which allowed us to pinpoint concentrations of criminal activity and better direct our resources.