There’s a running joke among Memphis Police Department officers working auto theft cases: if you drive a Dodge Charger in Shelby County, it’s not a matter of if it gets stolen. It’s when. The Charger, along with the Chrysler 300, Nissan Altima, and various Hyundai and Kia models, topped the stolen vehicle list in Memphis for 2019. And the list was long.
Auto theft in Memphis has been climbing for years, and 2019 offered no relief. Shelby County consistently ranks among the worst metro areas in the country for vehicle theft on a per-capita basis. The reasons are familiar to anyone who’s covered this beat: easy targets in parking lots with minimal surveillance, a market for stripped parts, juveniles treating car theft as recreation, and a court system that often treats the offense as low-priority compared to violent crimes demanding attention.
For businesses, the cost extends beyond the stolen vehicle itself. Insurance premiums climb. Employees feel unsafe in parking lots. Customers avoid shopping centers where cars get taken in broad daylight. The ripple effects touch revenue, staffing, and reputation.
The Hot Spots
MPD data from 2019 pointed to consistent problem areas. The Hickory Hill precinct, which covers a large swath of southeast Memphis and parts of the Shelby County line, reported some of the highest auto theft numbers in the city. Whitehaven and the corridor along Elvis Presley Boulevard continued to be heavy contributors. Raleigh and Frayser, in the northern part of the city, stayed busy as well.
The surprise for some people was the uptick in areas that don’t usually make the crime section. Wolfchase Galleria and the shopping centers around the Germantown Parkway corridor had multiple incidents throughout the year. Catalytic converter theft hit Cordova neighborhoods that had never dealt with it before. Parking lots near the University of Memphis campus saw enough activity that campus security adjusted patrol schedules.
What makes auto theft frustrating for law enforcement is the volume. Each individual case generates a report, but the investigative resources available can’t keep pace with the caseload. MPD’s Auto Theft Unit does solid work, and their partnerships with regional task forces recover thousands of vehicles each year. Still, for every recovered vehicle, two or three more disappear into the pipeline of chop shops, export networks, or joyrides that end with an abandoned vehicle stripped down to the frame on a dead-end street in South Memphis.
How Businesses Are Responding
The commercial response to property crime in Memphis has been practical, if uneven. Large retailers and property management companies have increased their investment in surveillance systems, access control, and on-site guard presence. Smaller businesses are doing what they can with tighter budgets.
Camera systems have gotten cheaper and better over the past five years. A small business owner on Summer Avenue or in the Poplar corridor can install a decent IP camera system for a few thousand dollars. Whether those cameras deter crime or just document it is debatable. But the documentation matters for insurance claims, police reports, and sometimes prosecution.
Parking lot lighting upgrades have become a popular investment too. Dark lots are easy targets. Property managers who’ve had vehicles stolen or broken into on their lots are spending on LED lighting retrofits that make it harder for thieves to work unnoticed. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s effective.
Security guard presence remains the most visible deterrent. A marked patrol vehicle circling a commercial parking lot sends a clear message. The question for businesses is whether the cost justifies the protection.
Shield of Steel, the veteran-owned firm on Lamar Avenue, has picked up several patrol contracts in the Whitehaven and Airport area over the past year. Their GPS-tracked vehicles let clients verify patrol routes and response times, which appeals to property managers who want accountability from their security provider. At $20 to $25 an hour for an armed patrol officer, it’s not cheap. But when you’re losing $5,000 to $10,000 per stolen vehicle in insurance deductibles and business disruption, the math starts working.
Allied Universal and Securitas handle most of the large commercial accounts in the Memphis market. GardaWorld has been expanding. On the smaller end, firms like Phelps Security continue to serve longtime clients who value the personal relationship that comes with a locally-owned operation.
Beyond Auto Theft: The Broader Property Crime Picture
Auto theft gets the attention because cars are expensive and people are emotionally attached to them. The broader property crime picture in Memphis includes burglary, larceny-theft, and vandalism. These are the crimes that drain businesses slowly, not in one dramatic event, but in an ongoing bleed of stolen merchandise, broken windows, damaged equipment, and insurance claims.
Organized retail theft made headlines nationally in 2019, and Memphis was no exception. Retailers along the Winchester Road corridor and in the Southaven/Olive Branch border area reported coordinated theft operations targeting electronics, clothing, and cosmetics. These aren’t shoplifters pocketing a candy bar. These are organized groups that enter a store with a plan, clear a shelf, and leave before loss prevention can respond. The stolen goods end up on resale markets within hours.
Burglary patterns in Memphis tend to follow predictable rhythms. Residential burglaries spike during daytime hours when homes are empty. Commercial burglaries cluster on weekends and holidays when businesses are closed. Construction site theft is a year-round problem, with copper, tools, and building materials disappearing from sites across the metro area. The new developments going up along Union Avenue and in the Crosstown area have all dealt with theft during the build phase.
What the Data Says About What Works
There’s a simple framework that crime prevention researchers have been pushing for years: capable guardians, motivated offenders, and suitable targets. You can’t do much about motivated offenders in the short term. That’s a question of economics, policing, and the courts. What you can control is whether your property is a suitable target and whether there’s a capable guardian present.
Environmental design matters. Sightlines, lighting, landscaping that doesn’t create hiding spots, access control that limits entry points. These are basic principles that work when applied consistently.
Guard presence works, with caveats. A guard who’s scrolling through their phone in a patrol car isn’t deterring anyone. A guard who’s alert, visible, and moving through the property on a random schedule is a different story. The quality of the guard matters as much as the presence.
Technology fills gaps. Cameras with remote monitoring, license plate recognition systems in parking garages, alarm systems with rapid response protocols. None of these are perfect. All of them improve the odds.
The catch is cost. For a large retailer or a Class A office building, the security budget is built into the operating plan. For a small business owner running a barbershop on Getwell or a restaurant on Madison, every dollar spent on security is a dollar not spent on inventory, payroll, or repairs. The math is harder when you’re working on thin margins.
What 2020 Might Bring
There’s no reason to expect property crime in Memphis will drop significantly in 2020 without some kind of intervention. The underlying conditions that drive it haven’t changed. Poverty rates in Shelby County are among the highest in Tennessee. The court system is overloaded. MPD is short-staffed.
What can change is how businesses prepare. The companies that invest in security now, while they have time to evaluate options and build relationships with providers, will be better positioned than those who scramble after an incident forces their hand.
If you haven’t reviewed your security setup since you opened your doors, January is a good month to start. Check your cameras. Test your alarm system. Walk your parking lot at night and see what a thief would see. Talk to your neighbors and find out if they’ve had problems. And if the answer is yes, start calling security companies before the spring thaw brings the warm-weather crime bump that Memphis sees every single year without fail.