Opinion: With ‘historic crime,’ let’s end the foolishness and let police live where they want
“Crime reduction is clearly a complex conversation.”
There are 811 article(s) tagged Memphis Police Department:
“Crime reduction is clearly a complex conversation.”
Outgoing Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings discussed his retirement, violent crime and the future of MPD Tuesday, March 9, as he prepares to retire next month.
Gov. Bill Lee said he plans to reintroduce a constitutional carry bill. It’s a move local law enforcement leaders say they will once again oppose.
A man was arrested at an East Memphis area home and charged in a suspected cockfighting operation. Police and animal services seized more than 200 roosters and hens.
Austin Peay Station is part of the new $45 million Raleigh Springs Civic Center development at the former Raleigh Springs Mall site on Austin Peay Highway. The station serves as both a traffic and police precinct.
Patric Ferguson, a former MPD officer accused of kidnapping and fatally shooting a man last month, has waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Ferguson remains in jail with no bond.
The dashboard was called for by City Council members this past December and will be added to three city websites. No date was given for when the information will go live, but it will data back to 2016.
Michael Rallings retires in April. Mayor hopes to present candidate to City Council in mid-March.
A Memphis police officer charged with murder and kidnapping has resigned. MPD released his personnel files Tuesday, showing two incidents during his two years on the force.
A preliminary hearing has been set for Feb. 4 for the MPD officer charged with kidnapping and fatally shooting 30-year-old Robert Howard on Jan. 6.
Groups such as the Gangster Disciples, Crips, Bloods and Latin Kings are splintering into neighborhood cells with names like the Choppa Gang in Hickory Hill, Concrete Cartel in East Memphis, 4 Corners in Orange Mound, and Dixie Homes Murder Squad, Major Frank Winston of MPD’s Multi-Agency Gang Unit said.
Memphis ends 2020 with 332 homicides, a record number. Police say the pandemic played a part, but there is no easy answer to why the increase occurred.
In the discussion with Memphis City Council members Tuesday, Jan. 5, the police director said he can’t carry out plans of a city task force to reopen several community policing centers given the pandemic. He got immediate pushback from several council members.
Video showed several cars doing donuts in traffic on Interstate 240. Memphis police said they will not “tolerate criminal acts like this.”
Police said the driver was treated for minor injuries and no one else was hurt Christmas night when a car crashed into the main lobby of the hospital at 1265 Union Ave. in Midtown Memphis.
Domestic violence has exploded this year locally and across the country since the novel coronavirus struck – a pandemic within a pandemic that’s filled police blotters with a spike in accounts of extreme brutality.
The council also talks about limits on mufflers, a cleanup of the city’s code of ordinances and could take a final vote on a sidewalk change that would require a sidewalk inspection as part of the closing process in real estate sales.
Darren Goods, a veteran Memphis Police officer who was former head of the gang unit, has retired and taken a job with the state Department of Children Services.
The Memphis Police Department has hired victim advocates to help families of homicide victims. The new program offers immediate intervention so families can start healing after a tragic loss.
The Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board elected former MPD Col. James Kirkwood as its new chairman Tuesday.
Memphis has reached 300 homicides this year, a record- shattering number.
Carjackings are “basically a crime of opportunity,” said Lt. Jimmy Lewis of MPD’s Violent Crimes Unit. And this year, he said, police are seeing guns used more often during the crimes.
A community survey on the next Memphis police director asks for feedback from people who live and work in the city. Related story: Task force recommends Memphis police number of 2,500
Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich has released body camera videos of the 2018 police shooting of Martavious Banks.
The task force is among the recommendations in a violent crime blueprint touted by council member Jeff Warren for the past year. Meanwhile, the city should have a new police director by the spring and the head of the MPD is a key player in such a task force.