Less than three months after Tyre Nichols’ death, city leaders are floating a potential tax hike to increase police pay. 

The higher police top-out salaries could come with matching increases for social service programs amid calls for police reform. Still, the move showcases the political reality that remains unchanged even with Nichols’ death at the hands of MPD officers — Memphis’ attention remains focused on the crime that plagues the city.

While polling data shows a desire for some additional police training, it also indicates many in the city want more cops. 

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When City Council Budget Chairman Chase Carlisle unveiled the potential police pay hike last week, he did not shy away from the national headlines about how MPD had loosened recruiting standards ahead of Tyre Nichols’ death. Instead, he said it was why officers need a raise. 

“If you’re in a very tough labor market, trying to recruit police officers and you want the best talent possible, instead of lowering the standards at the academy, raise the standards but expect to get a higher quality candidate, which requires higher pay,” Carlisle said.

Comments such as those from Carlisle, from other members of the council and Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland have signaled that while Memphis may continue to do some introspection about Nichols’ death, the city is not leaving its tough-on-crime path. 

That could be because that’s where voters are. Nichols’ death and the prolonged wait to see the video captivated the city for weeks, but car break-ins and the incessant headlines about crime continued unabated. 

“It makes people nervous,” said Brian Stephens of Caissa Public Strategy, 

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The results of a February poll — seven weeks after Nichols’ death and a full month after the video was released — shows a sampling of Memphians overwhelmingly support giving MPD officers more de-escalation training but also continue to see a real need for more police officers. 

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About 43% of 1,000 likely voters said they would support higher taxes to pay for more police, and Carlisle noted that poll. 

Stephens cautioned that the poll, which also measured the Memphis mayoral race, was just a “snapshot in time.” 

He said the city — which has been hit by the tragedies of Eliza Fletcher’s and Rev. Autura Eason-Williams’ deaths and Ezekiel Kelly’s alleged shooting spree before Nichols — has experienced a series of shocks. The fear shows in the data, Stephens noted. He pointed out the broad support those polled had for a juvenile curfew. 

“Nowhere in here are we suggesting curfews … but you have to ask some extreme questions and determine how much somebody really cares about a subject,” Stephens said. “It shows the level of passion that people want as of Feb. 25 to get a fighting control over crime.”

State Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Memphis Democrat, said the reaction to the drip-drip of car break-ins coupled with the rhetoric from other Memphis leaders about crime has increased the amount of fear among some segments of the community. 

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“When you have these two high-profile cases — these national headlines, you have a bunch of smaller crimes that are continuing to occur — people get scared and the visceral reaction is those who are committing offenses, you need to lock them up and throw away the key,” Akbari said. 

Other cities mirror tough-on-crime trends

Memphis’ continued tread down its tough-on-crime path comes as other major cities throughout the U.S. — including some far more progressive politically than Memphis — are turning toward similar policies in the effort to fight crime. 

Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates is turning to the Maryland General Assembly to increase prison time for unlawful handgun possession, a tactic not dissimilar from when former District Attorney General Amy Weirich and Strickland asked the Tennessee General Assembly for mandatory sentences for a whole slew of violent felonies.

In Washington, President Joe Biden signed a bill last week that overturned a Washington City Council law that would have lowered penalties for carjackings. 

New York City elected a tough-on-crime mayor, Eric Adams, in 2022 who now faces criticism for the crime not being down enough. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a moderate Democrat, is pushing back on bail reform measures passed before her time in office. 

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In Memphis, Strickland has spent the better part of two years calling the criminal justice system “a revolving door.” He’s used the phrase in his Friday newsletter at least 17 times in the past two years.

He’s used it to describe sentencing laws and bail in recent weeks, including in the immediate aftermath of Nichols’ death. It has put newly elected District Attorney General Steve Mulroy, who defeated Weirich last year, at odds with Strickland. 

Mulroy has argued it is investments in tough-on-crime policies that have kept the “revolving door’ going and not bail changes. 

In an interview, Akbari said Memphis is continuing down a path it was already on and one that other cities are turning to. 

She noted it followed a similar political cycle of the 1990s when a rush of states and the federal government passed mandatory minimums. 

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“This tough-on-crime rhetoric is politically popular. Again, because people look at it in black and white and they’re not looking at the gray areas. And I definitely think Memphis started this conversation before it kind of started to proliferate a bit nationally,” Akbari said. 

Budget process will show priorities

When Carlisle unveiled his police pay proposal, he also proposed $15 million in spending for housing, libraries and parks.

Its inclusion is an acknowledgment at Memphis City Hall that new spending in the budget can’t go only to police. The City Council — more and more in recent months — has expressed interest in allocating more money towards existing programs — the city’s affordable housing trust fund and group violence intervention in particular. 

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The city budget is not the council’s sole domain, however. They pass it but the mayor, Strickland, proposes it and sets out its priorities. The council can only fund existing initiatives. Without the administration’s agreement, it can’t fund new ones. 

How Strickland reacts to the budget will be key. Allison Fouche', the city’s chief communications officer, said Strickland’s administration is awaiting more details before commenting.

“Do I think that there’s $30 million worth of cuts in the budget? No, I don’t think so. Are we prepared to negotiate down some of these items? Sure,” Carlisle said.

“A tax increase is the last thing that I think I want for the citizens of Memphis. But the thing that I do want is to make sure that they feel safe, that they’re getting the services that they paid for and ... this council is prepared to do whatever is necessary to do that.”