Analysis: To Trump, rise in crime is political, foreign and enabled by Democrats
President Donald J. Trump (middle) along with cabinet members Pete Hegseth (left) and Pam Bondi (right) attend a Memphis Safe Task Force roundtable on Monday, March 23, 2026. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)
Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
Six months into the Memphis Safe Task Force crime fight, there is a disconnect.
All of the leaders of the local, state and federal agencies involved have talked for months about how well and selflessly they have worked together to bring down crime in Memphis.
It’s routine for law enforcement of all stripes to emphasize their cooperation with each other at every chance.
And it’s normal for those leaders to question and even debate the causes of specific categories of crime as well as what tactics work in which situation.
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