Citizens sick of crime start watching courts, need your help
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two Mempians sick of crime are rallying the troops to get to the root of the problem.
They decided to start with 201 Poplar, where they heard about a backlog of cases that amassed when COVID shut down the courts and about a new bail hearing room that many weren’t seeing eye to eye on.
What’s delaying criminal court cases, post-COVID
Leslie Taylor calls Memphis her home, and so does Norman Blake.
In January, they launched a court watch. They have been coming to 201 Poplar every day and sitting in the 10 criminal courts, observing and taking notes.
Their mission is to bring more public transparency to the judicial system. They want to provide the community with more information and get to know every player.
“Eliza Fletcher was murdered. Someone else I knew was murdered as well, and then my personal car was stolen by a 15-year-old minor, charged with multiple gun charges and crimes of breaking into several places,” Blake said. “It was such a call to action. I said I need to do something.”
Taylor and Blake both believe by changing nothing, nothing changes.
“I had an interaction with a reckless driver with my son in the car. My 15-year-old son,” Taylor said. “I just had this realization that if we were going to continue to live in Memphis, I need to be proactive and try to do something about the problem.”
Their paths started off differently. Blake, who was frustrated with the youth crime, decided to enter the Citizen’s Police Academy and get involved in youth programs.
“I would say I started out with a much more militant attitude. I came back with a very complicated view of the situation,” Blake said. “These children don’t even have food. Food, clothes, love would be the underlying factor.”
Taylor said she also wanted to take action. She contacted Memphis Councilman Ford Canale and helped host a panel discussion on reckless driving.
“One thing led to another. I started going to council and commission meetings and then I met Norman,” Taylor said.
Last fall, the two created the nonprofit Memphis Crime Beat, with the goal of getting more information about the increase in crime.
“There’s a lot of elected leaders working on our behalf, but we don’t have citizens watching them to understand what they are doing, how well they are doing their job, etc,” Taylor said.
“We are learning it’s a complicated, a complicated situation. No one simple cure,” Blake said.
They hope to identify issues and inefficiencies, and then bring their findings to local leaders, so they can be resolved.
Each day, they say there’s more to understand.
“The more you get into it, the more you realize how complicated and multi-faceted the problem is,” Taylor said.
While they don’t have any conclusive trends or data yet, what is clear is that they need help.
Right now, they have about a dozen volunteers and are training several more. If they can get to 60, they believe they can cover the bail hearing room and all general sessions and criminal courts. Each volunteer would only have to go to 201 Poplar one to days a month.
By taking action, they hope to see the change their city desperately needs.
“We really need to get focused back in on the work our elected officials are doing on our behalf and paying attention to that,” Taylor said. “Honestly, I think that’s part of the problem we are having. Citizens have gotten busy with other things.”
Because doing nothing, changes nothing.
What to get involved?
Court sessions are held between 9 am to 1 pm. Shifts available as schedules allow. Training will be provided.
If you want to volunteer, email: memphiscrimebeat@gmail.com for details.
For more information about Memphis Crime Beat, click here.
WREG Investigates
This week WREG Investigators have been digging deeper to find out more about the delays within the criminal justice system and what needs to change.
To catch our other stories, click here.
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