The defund the police groups have done a good job going down to City Hall to apply pressure. It’s our turn now! Show up at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 7th, at 3pm to tremendously impact our Police Department. We have record high crimes rates in Memphis right now, and our City Council is voting on ordinances to hinder MPD even more. It’s apparent our elected officials do not care about the crime or this city. These ordinances could severely impact MPD and we need to be their voice!
Attend the City Council meeting at Council Chambers, Lobby Floor, City Hall-125 North Main, Memphis, TN 38102 on March 7th at 3:30pm and call/email all Memphis City Councilman to say the following:
Memphis City Council-Monthly crime reports from Director Davis and special committee meetings by our elected officials are not working. You have been getting “updates” on crime stats for well over a year and no one has yet come up with a solution. Instead you are attempting to pass ordinances that will increase crime. Show more pride and respect for the taxpayers that put you in office and pay your salary.
Director Davis- Where have you been? A true leader would be out fighting for her officers and truly have their back. You would be fighting against these type of ordinances that will hinder your officers ability to do their job. No wonder your officers have no morale, there is little chance that we will ever be able to recruit new officers under your leadership.
Mayor Strickland- You are responsible for putting Director Davis in that position. She is a reflection of you. The fact that you are allowing her to destroy our police department makes you just as accountable.
The third and final reading for the type of vehicle used to pull over someone for a traffic violation will be heard. Vote no to require the division of police officers to use only appropriately marked police cars and only allowing properly marked patrol cars to conduct traffic stops.
It’s reprehensible that the City Council has let this issue get so bad. If the City Councilmen had researched on these “appropriate markings,” they would see that they are on the sides of the car and not the hood. Therefore, no one can ever see the appropriate markings when being pulled over from behind. The only way a person can identify who is pulling them over is by the light bar on top of the car. Therefore the “appropriate markings” have no relevance at all. Additionally, unmarked cars have extremely bright excessive LED lights under the hood and above the visors that are ten times as bright as the one light bar on a patrol car. These professionally installed lights are so bright that they know it’s a Police Officer. It would be a lot easier to get a car and put a blue light on the top and imitate a police officer than to install professional LED lighting in the hood, over the visors and all around the front of the to “disguise as a cop.” The markings have no bearing as to whether anyone pulls over at all and severely limits the ability to do surveillance, People generally don’t break the law with a marked patrol car next to them. Also, remember that we already have a major patrol car shortage in Memphis, officers are waiting hours for cars while on their shift, and we are down 1,000 officers. Crime rates will increase tremendously if these ordinances pass.
If someone is imitating an officer in order to pull someone over, they would use a fake blue light on top of a car to do it. It’s absurd to think someone would use an unmarked car to pretend to be an officer. They would use a marked car. Furthermore, Memphis has had no police reports for people being pulled over by unmarked cars who are pretending to be officers.
Vote no to amending the city code of ordinances, Traffic code to clarify appropriate methods and circumstances of enforcement of traffic violations.
Memphis City Council- If you don’t know by now that state law supersedes city ordinances, you probably shouldn’t be in your position.
1.If the City Council has MPD stop writing city tickets, they will write state tickets. This will affect the city budget because all the revenue from fines will go to the state instead of the city.
2. It has already been ruled and affirmed by the Supreme Court that pretextual stops are constitutional in Whren vs. US City Ordinance and, City Ordinances cannot supersede Supreme Court.
In regards to all the ordinances about tracking MPD data such as complaints, use of excessive force, etc., we already do that. Here is the link:
https://reimagine.memphistn.gov/isb-dashboard/
Memphis City Council- Since crime is still rising despite all your prior solutions, we will be happy to help you out!
It is a proven fact that there is a direct correlation between crime rates and the number of police officers. Memphis had the lowest crime rates ever in 2011, when we had the highest number of police officers. At the time, we were the highest paying police department amongst he surrounding municipalities and even a waiting list to get hired on.
Problem- We need more officers.
Their current solution- Hire more police officers by offering $15,000 signing bonuses to the new hires and lowering requirements to join.
Why this will never work- No one wants to be a police officer right now due to our current political climate, especially knowing their annual salary and their current leadership. You are recruiting kids who are too young and can’t handle the job. We will never be able to reach our goal number under these current conditions.
Our Step #1- Bring back the Delta shift.
When Director Davis said getting rid of the Delta shift would help with MPD burnout, we questioned her theories the time, MPD hadn’t drafted anyone in years and these officers were choosing to sign up for the extra hours. If these officers were truly burnt out like she said, they would just not sign up. It appears Director Davis was not trying to keep the officers from getting burned out, she was actually trying to cut costs in the worst possible area (overtime) when we are already short 1,000 Officers. Overtime should not be that large of an expense when MPD is short 1,000 police officers to start. In her recent annual update to City Council about her accomplishments, Director Davis bragged about the new patrol car take-home policy. However, there aren’t enough cars for officers on shift, so no one has ever been able to bring one home. Funny, we never heard her mention that part.
Additionally, since cutting out the Delta shift, we have less patrol officers on the streets due to no overlapping shifts and all the cars being used at once, along with a major car shortage to begin with. Police officers are having to wait for hours for a patrol car while on their shift.
Step #2- Work smarter, not harder.
Currently we don’t have enough officers to work in the Real Time Crime Center. Detectives don’t have enough time to research video footage for their giant caseload. Our Real Time Crime Center is actually a video storage for past videos.
Our solution- Hire Civilians or retired police officers to work in the Real Time Crime Center to research footage for the detectives. Currently, our police officers are not getting any live real time crime updates, and one is being dispatched when stolen cars ping off the license plate readers around the city. Our solution is to create a job position for someone to always be monitoring real time crime. We also suggest the dispatchers be moved into the Real Time Crime facility so they can give live updates to officers when needed (which also helps keep your officers safe). While we understand the dangers of pursuits, why can’t we release drones when LPRs get a hit, follow them until they are in a safe location and send the US Marshalls to apprehend. Recently Collierville Police Department used a drone to follow a shoplifter into a backyard where he hid behind a fence. They were able to apprehend him safely and, let’s reiterate, that this was just shoplifting. Due to the limited range of the drones, you would need to have them at each precinct. We suggest each precinct create a full time position for a drone operator and always have them on standby.
Step #3- Redesign the promotional process that was just initiated this week by Director Davis illegally.
There may be another blue flu wave after Director Davis’ recent changing of the promotion process (which should have gone through the Union for approval, but didn’t). Officers are eligible to take the test for a promotion a lot earlier now, so the new officers can move up the ladder a lot quicker, especially if they are a good test taker. Actual job performance is not factored into the promotion decision because it’s based on an actual test. There are currently bad officers who are getting promoted simply because they are good test takers, which is not a skill that is used on their job. Alternatively, there are amazing officers who are not great test takers and losing morale quicker by the minute.
Our solution- Create a promotion process that is uniform across the board on requirements and based on actual milestones and job performance. For example, everyone has to be a Patrol Officer for “x” number of years until they are eligible for a promotion. No one is allowed to be head of a division unless they have worked at least “x” number of years in that division. This will eliminate the shady “buddy” promotions that reduce morale.
Step #4-Require the Colonels of each precinct be more transparent in order to hold them accountable. All solve rates must be posted monthly, along with response times, crime rates, and a plan of action.
Step #5- Bring back Field Sergeants to add another level of promotion for the Patrol Officers and also have someone monitoring them and making sure they are doing their jobs.
Step #6-Give all Memphis police officers a $10,000 annual base salary pay raise.
Why this is the only solution that will work- Memphis police offices are the least paid amongst all the surrounding municipalities. Along with it being the most dangerous, it has the worst equipment and the least support by both Director and the general public. Perhaps the $15,000 signing bonuses for new hires and money saved from not having to train new recruits could be used for this?
Some officers have expressed interest in returning to MPD if the base pay increase happens. This pay increase will bring over lateral transfers from surrounding municipalities. Added bonus, these police officers already know what they are doing and don’t need near the extensive training the 21 year olds need, so it will save time and money. Another added bonus is that we will have a better trained police force so that avoid another Tyre Nichols incident. Creating the Scorpion Team was one of the other items Director Davis touted in her annual update to the City Council. The unit consisted of recently hired Police Officers who could not have had the proper training for this type of position in that short amount of time. As we all know now, the Scorpion Unit has been dismantled.
The Memphis Police Department and the City have been using the example of bringing MPD’s pension back as a way to recruit. While it’s a step in the right direction, it’s still by far the least paying pension upon retirement than the surrounding areas. To put things into perspective, Memphis Police Officers are fully vested at 25 years and get 62.5% of that 6.75% that was taken out of his/her paycheck for life. Germantown Police Officers only have to put 7% of their paycheck into a pension and it is matched 7% by the city with a 10% guaranteed. They are fully vested at 10 years and can pull out 100% of the money including interest as long as they are 50 years old.
Memphis is home. We truly care about the city and many of us can’t imagine living anywhere else. We are at critical point, please fight for our city that we all love so much. We have a chance to turn things around if we all stand together and refuse to back down.
Memphis City Council Phone-901-636-6786
Email addresses:
jford.canale@memphistn.gov
chase.carlisle@memphistn.gov
frank.colvettjr@memphistn.gov
michalyn.easter-thomas@memphistn.gov
edmund.fordsr@memphistn.gov
cheyenne.johnson@memphistn.gov
martavius.jones@memphistn.gov
rhonda.logan@memphistn.gov
worth.morgan@memphistn.gov
patrice.robinson@memphistn.gov
jb.smileyjr@memphistn.gov
jana.Swearengen-Wash@memphistn.gov
jeff.warren@memphistn.gov
cj.davis@memphistn.gov
jim.strickland@memphistn.gov