The city of Memphis is planning to bring more law enforcement resources to the Downtown area, including more officers, more cameras and a new Memphis Police Department command center.
The new command center will be built a short distance from Beale Street, at 250 Peabody Place, and will be staffed to constantly monitor Downtown via camera feed. Construction is already underway on the site, Memphis Mayor Paul Young said, and is expected to be completed by April.
Other investments include the addition of nearly 200 traffic cameras. Once these cameras are in place, Downtown Memphis will have more than 400 cameras for police use.
There will also be 63 upgraded cameras, which Young said were only possible because of the fiber optic connection, which will have the ability to record from different angles. The cameras also have an optic zoom, which preserves the visual quality of the camera feed.
The Mississippi River, the Hernando de Soto Bridge and the Memphis skyline are seen from the roof of the Sterick Building during a tour of the building in Downtown Memphis, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023.
The cameras also come with action intelligence, allowing operators to search for vehicle information in the system and the cameras will bring up vehicles that match the list.
“Downtown is a place where we all come together,” Young told a gathering of business leaders at Memphis City Hall on Friday. “It’s the only community that’s a community for everyone. Everyone has a part and a place in Downtown. We think it’s important that our living room, our shared space, is safe. But we’re not standing with Downtown. When we talk. about this camera network, with these high-definition cameras, they are entering about 550 locations across the city.”
MPD has, for a while now, had a policy to bring 24 additional officers Downtown for events, games, races and festivals. Now, according to Young, instead of those being 24 officers each time, they will be the same officers.
“They’re going to have a lot of insight into how Downtown goes,” Young said.
Motorcycle police will also be Downtown to better control the flow of traffic during events and canine units specialized in gun detection will be patrolling Downtown.
In addition to law enforcement resources, the city also said it is stepping up efforts to revitalize Downtown’s infrastructure and improve its pedestrian infrastructure. Those pedestrian structures can, Young said, come in the form of balls that go back into the ground if they don’t want to.
“Where you see cones and things like that sitting on the side of the road all week until it’s time for someone to come and pull them off the road on Saturday night,” Young said, “we want to have this type of facility where it’s not seen until it’s necessary.”
Costs have not yet been set for infrastructure improvements, but Young said the city has already begun installing new cameras at the top.
“We can’t wait,” he said. “I want it to be something special. We are investing now.”
This article originally appeared on the Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis police add more officers, command center in Downtown.