There are 75 article(s) tagged Michael Rallings:
Memphis City Council members also got their first look Tuesday at how much police have spent in the past four years on overtime and riot gear as well as other preparations to handle protests.
Gov. Bill Lee announced Thursday, July 2, plans for a partnership with various agencies to enhance officer training and increase police training.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings talked about further police reform efforts at a Tuesday briefing that was partially an answer to critics of Strickland's first set of reforms.
"While the MPD has some ways to go before it is fully reflective of the communities it serves, do we really believe that officers brought in from outside counties or states will improve any situation?"
Nine ministers – who were all involved in the set of private meetings with the mayor that lead up to his City Hall announcement Thursday regarding moves toward police reform – put out a letter Friday critical of the reforms Strickland had announced.
The press conference comes after a month of private discussions with community and religious leaders and a move toward police reforms by the Memphis City Council as well as the Shelby County Commission.
Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings said Thursday, June 18, that technology, including social media, is vital to the department, and he fears the 1978 Kendrick Consent Decree will stop his department from doing its job.
Memphis City Council member JB Smiley is pushing a resolution to urge Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration to put data, complaints and other information regarding police misconduct and use of force on the city’s website.
The first reception to the council resolutions presented Tuesday comes with a record of past resistance that indicates it probably won't be as easy as a council vote. The resolutions are advisory.
As Mayor Jim Strickland vows to 'fix' police brutality against African American citizens, his staff puts up roadblocks to accessing records.
The chief of staff to Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris talks about her son's coming transition as a young black man and worries about what will happen when he encounters police. The city's police director says his officers are not the enemy.
If there’s a commonality among many who disagree about protest tactics as well as those who by profession are on the other side of a line, maybe it’s a care for the city. Defensive pride in place is a Memphis throughline, and it may be serving us here.
The imposition of the late night curfew by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, announced Monday, also marks another chapter in the relationship between the city and activists who led the splinter group that tried to occupy the city's two interstate bridges Sunday night.
Protesters distributed a list of “suggested demands” at a weekend rally. Some are easier to achieve than others given the coronavirus-spiked budgeting chaos. All, perhaps, are debatable. But it would do the city great good for the current moment to become a more actionable one.
Gov. Bill Lee’s Administration is ending a highly-criticized policy of sharing COVID-positive information with 911 boards and law enforcement agencies across the state, saying plenty of PPE is available and urging first responders to wear it when they interact with people.
Despite the protests of Memphis officials and lawmakers, the House Judiciary Committee has passed a constitutional carry bill that enables “law-abiding” people to pack handguns without a state permit.
The Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators is asking Gov. Bill Lee in letter form to end a program allowing personal information of COVID-positive people to be shared with law enforcement. Otherwise, it says people should refuse to give their addresses when tested.
Rallings said Monday that Shelby County 911 has an agreement with the Tennessee government to get the names and addresses of those diagnosed with COVID-19, but only addresses will be used when dispatching officers, not the patients' names. The agreement has been in place since mid-March.
In the age of COVID-19, suspicions that police are not trustworthy must take a back seat to the certainty that this pandemic will spread without adequate safeguards.
Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings said Wednesday, April 15, that violent crime is up slightly in the city since the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the police department has launched a sting operation to combat the uptick.
Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings is back at work after a two-week self-quarantine after he went to Ghana with Memphis in May delegation. He discusses policing in the age of COVID-19.
Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings has been out of the office on "personal time" off and no one will confirm if he went on trip to Ghana with the Memphis in May delegation.
Gov. Bill Lee sticks to his guns, unmoved by pleas from law enforcement officials, mayors, gun merchants and firearms trainers.
Shelby County Commission wants to be "carved out" of Tennessee's proposed permitless carry law.
Police and clergy met to discuss what they can do about gun violence and violent crime in Memphis and Shelby County.