The mayor of Memphis meets with gang leaders to demand a truce to stop gun violence in the city

(CNN) — Memphis had a record 398 homicides last year, a significant increase from the 190 recorded five years earlier. And with more than 600 serious violent crimes so far in 2024, including at least 40 homicides, Tennessee’s second-most populous city has had a tumultuous start to the year.

The Justice Department recently underscored these troubling trends when it said violent crime in Memphis has reached its highest level in 17 years.

Recently, in an effort to curb crime, Memphis Mayor Paul Young, who took office in January with a focus on public safety, met with some of the city’s highest-ranking gang leaders in Memphis and worked on a seven-year truce between the gangs. the day

“My question to him in that conversation was, ‘Can we get a seven-day ceasefire? Just seven days where there’s no shooting and no killing?'” the mayor said during a panel discussion on youth development, CNN affiliate WMC-TV reported. “And they said, ‘Yes, we’re willing to do it,’ and they gave me a few caveats.”

Some of the conditions requested by the gangs include guarantees that rivals will also agree to a truce, as well as help finding better-paying jobs and the training needed to access them, WMC-TV reported.

Only 1% are on track to earn a living

Young told CNN on Saturday that what he described as a local car theft problem in Memphis is due to a lack of job opportunities for gang members. The break-ins are part of more than 3,500 major property crimes reported in January, according to the Memphis Police Department.

“What they told me was, ‘Our young people just need something to do; they steal cars because it’s fun, because there’s a lack of activities in their communities,'” Young said. “They need ways to generate income.”

More than 45,000 young adults ages 16 to 24 who are out of school and unemployed live in the Memphis metropolitan area, nearly half of whom live in poverty, according to the nonprofit The Collective Blueprint Memphis.

The group says that when those young adults turn 28, only 1% of them will be on track to make a living.

During a recent panel discussion, Young cited a study that aligns with his hope for Memphis’ at-risk youth, including gang youth.

A Chicago-based study found that arrests for violent crimes decreased by 45% among young adults who received job or internship opportunities during the first year.

When asked if he was able to achieve a seven-day truce, Young said the city has not observed any shootings by gang groups whose leaders attend initial meetings.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young met with some of the city’s highest-ranking gang leaders last month. (Joe Murphy/Getty Images/File)

“We just want to stop the cycle”

In his weekly update on February 23, Young addressed part of his administration’s plan to address gang violence, saying he would use data on the origins of criminal behavior to “drive integrated gang violence intervention programs.” Needy neighborhoods have started using gangs and guns.

The city operates an anti-violence intervention program targeting those considered at-risk who are affected or vulnerable to gun violence or retaliatory violence.

One method of the program involves street intervention, where trained interventionists from the community group 901 Block Squad help participants change their behavior by encouraging positive choices and offering access to services that can support them.

The 901 Block Squad and another Memphis-based nonprofit community organization, Heal 901, arranged a meeting between Young and gang leaders last month.

Heal 901 founder K. “You can’t change anything without bringing together the people who are causing the problem,” Durrell Cowan told CNN.

“This is one of the poorest cities in the area. If we want to stop crime, we have to change the narrative, we have to get jobs that pay,” Cowan said. “That was the plea from some of the gang leaders: ‘We need to do something.'”

He also said the city has seen an increase in violent incidents involving firearms due to the state’s open carry law in July 2021, which has made firearms more accessible.

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, Tennessee ranks 29th in the United States for the strength of its gun laws and has one of the highest rates of gun-related deaths in the country. Despite open carry laws, some establishments prohibit guns from being brought inside, forcing customers to lock them in their cars, according to Cowan.

“Now they break into vehicles without stealing anything, most of the time they just look for weapons,” Cowan said. The gang lifestyle has attracted children as young as 8 to the city and they have reached “epidemic levels,” he said.

“We just want to stop the cycle,” he said. “We must do something,” he added.

Like Young, leaders in other cities, including San Diego and Baltimore, have previously taken a similar approach to calling for gang truces to curb gun violence.

Cowan says he believes a truce is possible among Memphis gangs, but with at least 30 existing hybrid gangs in the city that have sprung from the five original gangs that once dominated the streets, it will take more than one meeting to achieve that goal. .

“Because of those different nuances, you can’t have one meeting with leaders and see effective change across the city. There will be a series of these meetings in the future,” Cowan said.

During a budget meeting Friday, Memphis City Council members expressed their commitment to finding ways to allocate resources to support organizations that help change the lives of young people, Young said.

“We will find those resources and make the necessary investments,” he said. “The things that our community needs aren’t new… they’re just something that we have to lean into and it happens,” Young said. “This will be a lively dialogue.”