The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday its investigators found that the Memphis Police Department and the City of Memphis, Tennessee engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional policing, including excessive force, unlawful arrests, and discrimination against black residents.
DOJ investigators also alleged the City and its police force discriminated against people with mental health issues, and they raised concerns about how children are impacted by such policing.
Acting U.S. Attorney Reagan Fondren for the Western District of Tennessee said in a statement that the process and findings uncovered that the City of Memphis has a “lot of work to do.”
“Memphians are rightly concerned with gun violence and violent crime,” he said. “They are also rightly concerned about the collective approach that we must take to tackle these issues.”
In a letter response dated Dec. 4, Memphis officials say they will thoroughly review the DOJ’s findings and have declined to sign any agreement-in-principle or commit immediately to a consent decree, citing concerns about long-term costs and complexity.
“Our hearts go out to every person who has been impacted by those actions,” he said.
“It’s crucial that the city has the time to do a thorough review and respond to the findings before agreeing to anything that could become a long-term financial burden to our residents and could, in fact, actually slow down our ongoing efforts to continuously improve our police department.”
He said other U.S. cities such as Chicago and Seattle where consent decrees have been in place for a decade or more and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
“We believe we can make more effective and meaningful change by working together with community input and independent national experts than we can with a bureaucratic, costly, and complicated federal government consent decree,” Young said.
Young stated that Memphis is already seeing improvements, noting that citywide crime is down and that reforms are already underway within the Memphis Police Department.
“We’ve already begun implementing several changes within MPD, and we’re committed to further progress,” he said.
The mayor announced plans for a series of town hall meetings to discuss the DOJ report with community members and civil rights stakeholders, aiming to “develop an effective improvement plan that transcends what is undoubtedly a bureaucratic and costly consent decree.”
Police Chief Ceryln “C.J.” Davis said in a Dec. 5 statement that since a July 2023 DOJ report the City had granted thorough access to police through interviews, data, and body-worn camera footage to the DOJ.
“However, the DOJ’s investigation has been largely conducted with little transparency regarding their findings,” Davis said in her letter. “We have not been privy to the identities of those interviewed, nor have we had access to the data analysis that underpins their findings.”
Davis said officers face difficult challenges daily, and “while there are still processes that require continuous review, our officers come to work every day wanting to serve their community.”
“Make no mistake, we are taking the DOJ’s findings seriously, and we will review this lengthy report with an open mind,” she said. “We believe in continuous improvement and do not take this process lightly.”
She also said in the press conference alongside the mayor that MPD had already made over 700 policy changes in the last three years that have helped to “direct process” and “improve officer response.”
“Community engagement has been a significant part of the work that we’re doing to ensure that we don’t just go out and create various types of policies and processes—but to also have our community members engaged as well,” she said.
The DOJ, which also plans to seek community input on remedies, said it expects significant changes.
For now, Memphis leaders say they plan to address the issues collaboratively, without an immediate federal mandate, hoping to shape a policing model that protects all residents, rebuilds public trust, and ensures lasting, constitutional reforms.
