Several months ago, after a young, prominent local businessman was horribly executed on the streets of downtown Chattanooga by a career criminal on video and in front of witnesses, I wrote to Chattanoogan.com asking when Mayor Kelly and Police Chief Murphy were going to be held responsible for increasing levels of violent crime in our otherwise wonderful city. Other than an announcement about joint policing with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department, I am aware of no other response or reports concerning the effectiveness of this cooperative effort. To this day, violent crime appears to persist on an unabated basis. Repetitive shootings and other forms of violence continue at levels consistent with blue Northeastern and Midwestern cities.
In the last month, these articles have appeared on this website:
1) March 30, 2024: “East Brainerd Youth Group Says Shooting Was Intense and Terrifying”;
2) March 31, 2024: “Teen Shot While Sitting Outside Home On Citico Avenue”;
3) April 11, 2024: “Man Shot in Altercation at Gas Station on Tunnel Boulevard”;
4) April 12, 2024: “Man Dies After Being Shot at Skatepark Near Finley Stadium”;
5) April 15, 2024: “Two Arrested For Robbery at Brainerd High School”;
6) April 17, 2024: “Man, 27, Shot And Killed On Windsor Street”;
7) April 17, 2024: “Sherrif’s Deputy Injured When Dragged By Suspect’s Car”;
8) April 19, 2024: “Pair Arrested After Police Caught In Crossfire”;
9) April 20, 2024: “14-Year-Old Hit As Shots Are Fired Into Crowded Vehicle on Shallowford Road”; and,
10) April 26, 2024: “Man, 27, Shot On Eastgate Loop In Apparent Targeted Incident”
Our liberal Mayor Kelly and his sidekick Chief Murphy endanger Chattanoogans with their policies, especially our neighbors living in less advantaged areas of the city (the very voters Kelly and Murphy pander to and count upon for support). In fact, they seem smug and indifferent to concerns about crime - otherwise they would do more to prevent it. Everyone, no matter who he or she is, what he or she has, or where he or she lives, deserves to live in safety.
Simply put, Kelly and Murphy are failing - they’re performing public safety malpractice. The enormity of their dereliction puts them in a class with liberal leaders in Memphis, Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis. It is not the time to make excuses for what so obviously has not worked. It is time to make our city safer by cracking down on crime rather than trying to change behavior through “community policing”, which clearly has not been effective. Our rate of violent crime is a whopping 208 percent above the national average. Property crimes are 167 percent higher than comparable cities. Please do not trust me. Verify these numbers at the AreaVibes website. View detailed crime rates in Chattanooga as well as a Chattanooga crime density heat map.
Having lived in Chattanooga for over 50 years, it's sad to see our leaders’ misguided policies harm my beloved home town. I ask again: when are Kelly and Murphy going to take responsibility for their failures? When will Chattanooga’s citizens, especially those most affected by violent crime, rise up and demand a change?
Morgan Smith
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Morgan Smith for Mayor in 2025.
Ralph Miller
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Why don't you two get together, brain storm and come with your own solutions? Be specific what it is you actually want the mayor and police chief to do.
I. Allow police to jack up anyone, everyone who "doesn't look like they belong" in a certain area or place? Including military serving the country, home on leave to visit family? That's already happened with disastrous results.
II. Having neighbor spying on neighbor, making false claims against their neighbor/s? That, too, has already happened with disastrous results.
III. Report anything/anyone someone perceive as a suspicion to call police? Example: A student, taking it upon him/herself to check on a neighbor's dogs after school each day to make sure the dog hasn't turned over their water bowl, and has enough dog food set out? - since the neighbor they were helping worked odd-2nd shift+ hours? of course, police responded with aggression?
A. You do know, without a clear description of what is/isn't a suspicion, to some people everything and everyone who looks different, anything outside their concept of "normal," is a suspicion?
Or is it that you two just want to use every opportunity, even exploiting a death, to attack anyone you consider left of center? Or a liberal? Because as I recall is correct, and for anyone who claims they've lived here/there/anywhere for 50 years....bad things happened, crimes happened no matter if the mayor was liberal (aka Democrat) or conservative (aka Republican).
A Republican mayor was in office when a young man murdered both his prominent parents in the area. And that wasn't the only familicide to take place throughout the years. If you two really are serious, you wouldn't be exploiting a tragedy and making it all about your personal politics. Which just goes to show, you're both hypocrites to the max.
Red state, blue state, green state, yellow state. "My state is better than your state." You two sound like something out of a Dr. Seuss children's book. No matter the state. Crime is taking place. Red states are just on a move to draw people in, and often downplay and hide their crimes. Like the story of Cain and Abel. But the eyes of "God" were watching. Remember?
Brenda Washington
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Once again, we find ourselves in the midst of political discussions. The Ashley Furniture Politicians are at it again. Chattanooga is not in the ballpark of the places you mentioned (pun unintended), seems to be a recurring topic for conservative arguments. Let’s dive into the policies responsible for the surge in crime rates, particularly homicides. What specific changes did the police chief implement that contributed to this concerning trend? Personally, I engage with the community weekly and have encountered Ms. Murphy and Mayor Kelly. Remarkably enough, I’ve yet to meet either of you two, despite my work spanning lower-, middle-, and upper-class areas.
It’s worth noting that Chattanooga has consistently exceeded the murder rate since at least 1999, according to FBI statistics. Interestingly, this trend has persisted across mayoral terms, whether Republican, Independent, or Democratic. Rather than a political issue, the critical areas demanding attention include education, domestic violence law reform, gangs, firearms law reform, and poverty. Let’s keep the conversation open. Below, I’ve included some questions and relevant statistics for your consideration.
Years and homicide rates
2017 17.34
2001 16.57
2014 15.48
2002 15.14
1999 14.74
2005 14.7
2016 14.62
2011 14.19
2015 13.15
2003 12.13
Questions:
What policies did Chief Murphy or Mayor Kelly draft to cause crime?
What policies would you draft to lower crime?
What do you think causes all of these issues?
Why have you not run yet in the 50 years you have been a prominent Chattanoogan?
Where do I donate to your campaign?
As my mother always says, “If you are not a part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” Which one are you. Be blessed.
Christopher Cooper
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Well said, Brenda. I hope you will continue to point out the lies and inaccuracies of the Trumpers.
I say Trumpers since nearly every letter addressing something on the national level praises Trump or is hateful of Democrats with no support of their normally narrow-minded opinions. They choose to espouse their lack of knowledge on a subject, merely parroting what has been force-fed to them by "their" media.
Republicans I know who are not Trumpers usually just express their disappointment of the Democrats, justifiably supporting their opinions or disappointments with reasonable examples or changes that could be made.
These Republicans do so without the hate or divisive rhetoric.
Of course, though, your admonishments of Morgan Smith and Ralph Miller will be passed off by the Trumpers as admonishments from just another angry liberal. And a woman.
I had a reply to Ralph Miller's letter "The Norm" prepared. Then, I read Morgan Smith's letter.
Miller took the theft of Rep. Schiff's luggage to again harangue about Schiff's being the sole basis of all crime in the U.S. Of course, since it was California, Miller also had to use Nancy Pelosi and her husband's attack as fodder to justify his hatred for any and all things Democrat.
Yet each had no criticism of Republican blockage of meaningful gun reform.
At least Smith got right what Miller did not: that local government has the most control over local crime. But Smith's letter exhibited his disdain too for any and all things liberal.
Joe Warren
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Once again we've lowered ourselves to acting like reality TV show "stars" by using politician measuring and name calling to confront a serious problem. While we're fighting among ourselves with a lack of civility and maturity, dividing our country more and more, our enemies, foreign and domestic, are laughing at us while they slowly take over.
Good work, guys.
Dana Lingerfelt