Ben Wheeler is an investigative reporter and is a member of The Daily Memphian’s public safety reporting team. He previously worked at the Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan and Herald-Citizen.
There are 175 articles by Ben Wheeler :
As Tennessee again promises an increased number of state troopers, municipalities around the country are trying to find ways to curb the influence of lead-footed drivers, Memphis included. Memphis seeing more state troopers not just on highways but on ‘our city streets’Related story:
“We have to have this broader view of what we’re trying to get done and what the goal is,” says Cardell Orrin.
Memphis Police Department Lt. Dewayne Smith, a 25-year veteran, has been identified as the officer who retired before an administrative hearing into his involvement in the death of Tyre Nichols.
The Daily Memphian has identified all 56 MPD officers who were a part of SCORPION, the now disbanded unit whose officers were criminally charged with the death of Tyre Nichols. One local law enforcement leader says the stats show MPD needs more rigid hiring practices.
The Nichols case has intensified the national debate on using highly aggressive tactics to battle violent crime and the pretexts that are often used. Most of the stops identified and mapped out by The Daily Memphian were made in the most impoverished areas of the city.
Memphis is re-evaluating its policing tactics, including the use of data-driven special units like SCORPION, in the wake of the Tyre Nichols death.
Seven officers among 29 identified SCORPION unit members had previous infractions, records show.
The initial information released by police in the Tyre Nichols case differed significantly in some respects from what was shown on video footage released to the public last week.
The Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION unit, which MPD announced Saturday is being disbanded, is reminiscent of a controversial defunct unit in Atlanta over which MPD Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis was once in charge. Related story:
The moves are designed to allow Flinn Broadcasting to focus more tightly on its home market of Memphis.
Attorneys for the family of Tyre Nichols have released a letter calling for an end to law enforcement units like that of Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION.
The unit identifies upticks in motor vehicle thefts and violent crime and then targets those areas with patrolling SCORPION officers.
Police reports indicate at least 19 vehicles were broken into over the weekend, during one of the center’s first big events.
Gender issues complicate the reporting of cold cases for transgender victims, but a Shelby County initiative offers hope to families.Related story:
An industry group estimates there are 250,000 to 300,000 water main breaks in the U.S. every year — generating an estimated loss of 6 billion gallons of treated drinking water across the country.
From 2017 to 2021, an estimated 1.8 million guns were stolen, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Many businesses are operational now that water pressure has returned to restrooms and other facilities.
The suspects in the slaying of Greater Memphis Chamber CEO Phil Trenary saw their trial pushed back almost a full year — to October 23, 2023 — following a conflict-of-interest delay.
What the new Twitter landscape will look like, if the platform survives its present challenges, has some concerned over its effectiveness as an information platform.
One in five Black Tennesseans do not have the right to vote due to a prior felony conviction, according to a 2020 study.
The former Memphis City Schools, as recently as the early 1990’s, scored job candidates on their physical appearance, according to documents found by The Daily Memphian.
The county’s 500-Day Committee began work six years ago to try and move people out of the jail more quickly. But one of the biggest reasons may come down to making bail.
Despite the U.S. Constitution’s sixth amendment guaranteeing a right to a speedy trial, Shelby County’s legal system can leave defendants in limbo for years. And it comes at a cost of millions and millions of dollars.
An amended lawsuit contends Eliza Fletcher’s alleged killer avoided arrest for rape in 2021 despite implicating details that a second witness gave Memphis police days after the attack.
The amount of time needed to process a rape kit at TBI’s West Tennessee crime lab in Jackson ranged from 33 to 49 weeks over the past year. The statewide backlog was up to more than 950 kits awaiting testing as of last month.