The top federal prosecutor in Memphis says the U.S. Department of Justice pattern-or-practice investigation of the Memphis Police Department has complicated the relationship his office has with the law enforcement body. 

But despite the civil investigation into the department, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Kevin Ritz said his office is committed to continuing to work with MPD to enforce federal criminal law. 

“Relationships can be complicated, just like in any other part of life, but it is part of our job to make sure we are doing what the citizens want us to do,” Ritz said on the WKNO-TV program “Behind The Headlines.”

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Ritz, who has led the office since September 2022, also described its role in prosecuting local crime and a recently announced initiative aimed at combating it.

Ritz said the role of the U.S. attorney’s office in prosecuting local crime is to identify good candidates for federal prosecution, i.e. those who can be charged for violating federal rather than state law. 

He gave the example of drug cases, saying that often they can either be prosecuted in state or federal court. 

The difference, at least to those accused of crimes, is federal prosecution often comes with stiffer penalties, Ritz said. 

“It is certainly a reputation and a perception among people that are committing these crimes that you don’t want to be in federal court, and I think that’s the right way for them to look at for a number of reasons,” he said.

He also noted how there is no parole in the federal system, unlike in state court. 

Seven new prosecutors who recently joined the office as part of an initiative to combat crime in the city will focus on certain types of cases, Ritz said, including:

• Violations of federal firearms laws
• Drug trafficking
• Violent crimes like carjacking and business robberies
• Conspiracy and racketeering cases against gangs involved in those crimes

Memphis is only the second city for the initiative, formally called the Violent Crime Initiative, to be rolled out. The first was Houston in September 2022.

Ritz noted these types of cases were already being prosecuted prior to the initiative being announced but expressed gratitude for the additional help.

“Relationships can be complicated, just like in any other part of life, but it is part of our job to make sure we are doing what the citizens want us to do.”

Kevin Ritz
U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee

“But I think as anyone who’s in charge of a government office would say, it’s always great to have additional bodies and additional resources to really plug in,” he said. 

A community-engagement portion was included as part of the initiative, and Ritz spoke to the efforts of the office in crime prevention and intervention.

He noted he serves on the board of the city’s Violence Intervention Program, for example.

“The more we can do to prevent people from entering the justice system in the first place, I’m all about because we’ve got enough to deal with as it is,” he said.

Ritz also spoke to a recent agreement with Patriot Bank, a local bank that allegedly engaged in redlining of majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Memphis from 2015 to 2020.

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Patriot Bank has denied the allegations.

In a release announcing the agreement, the DOJ noted 11 other cases and that it had secured around $109 million to combat redlining in other areas. 

“It’s important work. What does it say to me? We have a long way to go. It’s unfortunate that in 2024 we are still seeing reports of this and investigations into that,” Ritz said.