‘We have delivered safety, now we must preserve it so we can make Memphis one of the safest and greatest cities in the United States.’
Opinion: Senator Hagerty on ‘Making Memphis the safest city in America’
Daily Memphian
By: Senator Bill Hagerty
March 6, 2026
Link here.
Embedded in the fabric of Tennessee is a spirit of independence, courage, and determination. Tennesseans don’t wait for others to solve our problems. We take challenges head-on and make things work.
That is exactly what we did in Memphis to address violent crime that has plagued the city for too long.
This past year has brought an awakening of what a properly supported law enforcement program can achieve if supported by the community and the judicial system.
I’ve wrestled with the crime in Memphis since I served as Economic and Community Development Commissioner (ECD) of Tennessee. At that time, we were recruiting a company to bring high-paying jobs to the state and while the company was going to be located hours away from Memphis, its leadership worried about how crime in the city would affect their ability to recruit talent statewide.
The CEO asked — quietly — whether the state could provide crime statistics that excluded Memphis to make relocation recruitment easier.
That conversation was not an outlier. It was a symptom of a deeper truth: if anything was going to change, it needed a Tennessee solution for a Tennessee problem — and that solution had to start with empowering law enforcement to do their jobs.
One of the great gifts of public service is the ability to make an outsized difference for your fellow citizens. I would never have imagined earlier in my life I could help make Memphis safe and marketable.
But with President Trump’s re-election, I saw that opportunity and went fast to work organizing federal, state and local allies to move quietly and effectively to empower law enforcement to do their jobs.
We identified resource needed and obstacles. We worked quietly in two major initial sweeps that took over 600 of the most dangerous and violent criminals off the streets of Memphis.
And based upon this initial coordinated success, President Trump decided to put the full resources of the federal government into motion with state and local leaders to dramatically restore Memphis as one of America’s greatest and most historic cities.
This effort was as broad as it was deep. The Departments of Justice, Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, and most impressively our own Tennessee National Guard collaborated with local authorities to create an atmosphere of calm and justice.
It should make us all proud to see people enjoying Beale Street again and to see families feeling comfortable enough to attend church services in person and to feel confident that the long arm of the law is working.
As of March 4, 2026, the operation in Memphis has resulted in 6,748 arrests and 1,095 illegal firearms removed from the streets. Those numbers represent thousands of hours of police work, federal coordination, and officers putting themselves in harm’s way to protect their communities.
But the true measure of success goes beyond arrest numbers. Violent crime is down. Repeat offenders are being taken off the streets. Displaced children are returning home. Criminal networks that once operated in the open are being dismantled.
And for the first time in years, residents and businesses alike are seeing sustained, visible enforcement from all levels of government. Law enforcement is being allowed to do what they do best: keep people safe.
Crime in one city can affect the reputation of an entire state. It influences where families choose to live, where employers choose to invest, and whether young people see a future in the communities they call home.
Safer streets mean stronger neighborhoods. Stronger neighborhoods are the foundation for economic growth. And economic growth creates opportunity for everyone. None of that is possible without law enforcement leading the way.
The people of Memphis have long called for the necessary resources to address these systemic issues. They have asked for their leaders to fulfill one of government’s most fundamental functions: public safety.
We have delivered safety, now we must preserve it so we can make Memphis one of the safest and greatest cities in the United States.