Colonial Acres

The Memphis Police Department and many other law enforcement agencies across the metropolitan area and the rest of the state are aggressively pursuing criminals.The MPD has made thousands of arrests over the years, including over 1200 for burglary this year alone. Our fight, while aggressive, is less than optimal. Even though we have identified criminals, taken them into custody and turned them over to the courts, once convicted, they don't stay in prison very long. The average length of incarceration for a burglar is only 9 months. Blue Crush is effectively identifying problem areas, and arrests are being made on a continuing basis. However, many times, if not most times, we are arresting people who have already been arrested numerous times.

Some background on the repeat offender problem:

Repeat offenders are costing our taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Over 100 offenders in Shelby County have been arrested 100 times or more. Over 50,000 offenders have been arrested more than 5 times. The RNI number we so often talk about is a number that is linked to an offender's fingerprints. These numbers are unique to the individual. If a person gets arrested again, they are re-linked to their original RNI number. A new number is only assigned to people who have never been arrested. The number is an "incremental" number which started at 1 in the early 1980s and is now being assigned with numbers over 389,000. That number is larger than the population of Cincinnati, Ohio.

An example of the issue at hand is well represented by a recent arrest of a career criminal burglar. This burglar has been arrested over 40 times, and entered multiple guilty pleas. Even so, the current law suggests this offender gets a bond, so he is released on a $25,000.00 bond within a day of being arrested. A "reasonable person" might assume he is back in the burglary business. A law that denies bond to career criminals is needed to ensure a level of protection for our citizenry. It would also help if there were a "truth in sentencing" law, so when the court sentenced someone to 10 years, they would do ten years. Stronger laws, which drive home the message that we are not going to tolerate criminal behavior, must be passed.

How can I help, you ask? You can help by contacting your legislators and urging them to pass legislation that keeps criminals in jail, denies the career criminal bond, and helps law enforcement do the job we have sworn to do. We have provided two links below that will assist you in sending emails to the legislators. One will send an email to each member of the "Shelby Delegation", which is that group of senators and representatives who represent us from Shelby county. The other link will allow you to send an email to every senator and representative in the state. Feel free to send emails to both.

Here are some areas of concern:

• Truth in sentencing - make criminals serve entire sentence
• No bond for career criminals - 10 convictions or more
• Habitual Misdemeanant law (10 convictions or more - additional class E felon charge on any subsequent charges )

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