Justice Department and Police Chiefs Association to review Memphis Police Department
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland stands at the start of the Memphis Police Department’s graduation of its 137th recruit class. On Feb. 3, Strickland announced a review of MPD by U.S. Justice Department and the International Association of Police Chiefs. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian file)
The U.S. Justice Department and the International Association of Police Chiefs will review the Memphis Police Department as a whole in the wake of the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of local police officers.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced the review Friday, Feb. 3, and said it will include all of the MPD’s specialized units as well as use-of-force policies.
The Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services — commonly known as COPS — and the Collaborative Reform Initial Technical Assistance Center will be involved.
The Association of Police Chiefs is best known for the searches it conducts for cities looking for new police department leaders.
Strickland and Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis announced an outside review of police department specialized units as one of the administration’s first reactions to the death of Tyre Nichols after five police officers — all part of MPD’s SCORPION unit — were fired and later each charged with second-degree murder and other related charges.
In his weekly email, Strickland said the purpose of the review is to “make sure this type of tragedy does not happen again.”
He did not set a time frame for the review and any recommendations to be made to the city.
Topics
Tyre Nichols U.S. Justice Department International Association of Police Chiefs Jim StricklandBill Dries on demand
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Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
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