Back to Police

The City Council's executive committee heard recommendations from the police recruitment ad hoc committee today, including a resolution to allow officers to live 20 miles outside of Shelby County, as long as they pay a $1,400 fee and apply before December 31, 2009.

Police director Larry Godwin told council members the department currently has about 2,100 applicants, due in part to a large marketing campaign, but the department also loses about 100 officers each year to attrition.

"After the marketing campaign is over, the applicants will diminish," said councilman Harold Collins. "We're trying to provide enough applicants going forward over the next three years."

Some council members objected to the resolution because a similar provision went before the full council two months ago.

"To bring it back before us, simply because an ad hoc committee decided to, is very disappointing," said councilwoman Barbara Swearengen Ware. "In our rules of procedure, once a matter has been approved or rejected at one meeting, any such item may not be placed on the agenda ... for consideration before six months after the original consideration of the matter."

There was also a tense moment when Ware asked about the effect of the resolution on neighboring communities.

Godwin said, "I will not allow us to go to a department and recruit another chief's men and women. We would probably be offering things they don't have, salary, benefits."

After Ware said "we will rape those town of their police officers," Chairman Myron Lowery protested her use of that term, but she re-asserted her meaning.

"I meant rape," she said emphatically. "We wll take those officers that are protecting those citizens and bring them to Memphis and put them on our police force. It's wrong."

The resolution was added onto the full council's agenda for this evening.

Other recommendations from the committee included opening the city's down-payment home assistance program to police officers, paying college loans and relocation fees for officers, and processing police applications in a more timely manner. The other recommendations will come before the City Council's personnel committee.

Quick Note

Looks like the MPD's inclement weather policy is currently in effect.

If you have a traffic accident without injuries and the vehicles involved are drivable, the MPD asks that you exchange license information with the other driver and report the accident to the local police precinct after the weather has passed.

If there are injuries or you need a wrecker, call MPD at 545-2677.

UPDATE: MPD has lifted the inclement weather policy. If you have a wreck, and I hope you don't, but if you do, go ahead and call MPD at 545-2677.

Jackson, Miss., Mayor Faces 20 Years

Even a mandate can be revoked. That's perhaps the lesson — one of many — to be learned from Jackson, Mississippi, mayor Frank Melton.

Melton, elected mayor in 2005, was seen as a straight-talking, tough-on-crime candidate. The Flyer even ran a cover story that detailed Melton's penchant for donning police-issue bullet-resistant vests and joining police checkpoints. (He was once the head of the state's narcotics bureau.)

But a year later, Melton participated in a raid on a duplex that opened him up to a host of legal problems. A state jury found him innocent of burgulary and malicious mischief, but he is scheduled to appear in federal court January 5th.

USAToday has a longer story about Melton today:

"Justice Department prosecutors say Melton directed a band of men, some with criminal records, to attack the duplex with sledgehammers, tearing out its front wall.

Melton has never specifically said what he did that night. He has called the raid a 'procedural error' that, he said, is a matter for the civil courts.

Despite the mayor's insistence that the house was used to sell drugs, no drugs, cash or weapons were seized that night. The owner of the duplex has sued the city."

Jackson City Council president Leslie Burl McLemore was quoted as saying that "no one in the state of Mississippi, no one in the city of Jackson, had the mandate Frank Melton had, from rich and poor and black and white. That doesn't happen. That's the work of movies, of fiction. But he squandered it."

During the Leadership Academy's luncheon with Newark, New Jersey, mayor Corey Booker, much was made of Booker's ride-alongs with police. For Booker, it seems like it was more of a way of getting buy-in from the police department for his crime initiatives.

However, I think there is danger in putting more emphasis on the ride-along than it deserves. It got a lot of lip service at the Leadership Academy's young politicos forum, as well, and while I think it's great for elected officials to see first-hand what police are dealing with on the streets, Melton is a good example of how it can all go very wrong.

In a related but unrelated note, I happened to be in Jackson over the weekend and had dinner at the Mayflower Cafe. I would suggest it if you're in the area, but you might want to go to the bathroom before you get there. Especially if it's cold.

Tips for the Time

My second favorite holiday is this week: Black Friday, the time where generations of American families come together to get up at the crack of dawn, wait out in a dark Wal-mart parking lot for some poor, unfortunate soul to open up the automatic doors, and then trample inside like a pack of wild dogs intent on getting the cheapest presents possible. Even if it means ripping it out of someone else's hands.

(It kind of reminds me of roller derby.)

At any rate, the MPD has sent out a list of helpful tips to start the season. You can find the full list at the MPD's website, but I've picked out a few:

— When possible, shop during daylight hours.

— Dress casually and comfortably (ed: This is just practical. I mean, you wouldn't run a marathon in high heels, would you? No, not unless you were Kelly Ripa.)

— Do not carry a purse or wallet, if possible. Keep cash in your front pocket.

— Avoid carrying large amounts of cash. Pay for purchases with a check or credit card if possible. (Your financial advisors would tell you the exact opposite. Well, except for the carrying large amount of cash part. They'd probably agree with MPD there)

— Beware of strangers approaching you for any reason (Same as any other time of year, really)

— When driving, keep all car doors locked and window closed while in or out of your car.

— Avoid parking next to vans, trucks with camper shells, or cars with tinted windows (That's if you can find a parking space at all)

— Do not leave packages or valuables on the seat of your car.

— Be sure to locate your keys before going to your car. Do not approach your car alone if there are suspicious people in the area.

— When leaving home for an extended period of time, have a neighbor or family member watch your house and pick up your newspapers and mail.

— Leave a radio or television on so the house looks and sounds occupied.

— Donate to a recognized charitable organization (I like this one. I think they mean as opposed to donating to a charity you've never heard of, but a little good karma at this time of year can't hurt.)

In the event you need to contact the police, call 545-COPS for non-emergencies or 911 for emergencies.

Addressing Police, Another Folo

UPDATE from the previous post: The council split along racial lines to vote down the 20-miles-from-the-county-line residency proposal, mostly due, it seems, to the belief that the police department is not hiring enough African-American officers.

A few months ago — and unfortunately this is all from memory — director Larry Godwin and a police academy representative were before the council. They were quick to point out that the racial split of officers follows the racial split of the city, meaning roughly 60 percent of officers are African American.

However, when they looked at the data on the applicants, the council noticed that the department had more African Americans applying than whites and the department was thus disproportionately turning away African American applicants.

Courting Cops

City Council is going to be interesting tonight.

In a some times heated executive session earlier this afternoon, the council discussed the recommendations that the police hiring task force presented a few weeks ago. One, based upon evidence that a previous group of applicants would not have applied if they had to live within the city limits, centered around the police department's residency requirement.

"There were a couple of issues that this council had discussed," said Council member Wanda Halbert. "One of them was the residency requirement. The media has inappropriately and incorrectly said that this group said to only relax the residency requirement."

The full council is expected to vote tonight on a resolution to allow police officers to live within 20 miles of the Shelby County line.

Longtime member Barbara Swearengen Ware has been against the measure from the beginning. She, along with Halbert, have implied the police department is turning candidates away unnecessarily.

"We don't have a lack of folk applying. We have folk who are being disqualified systematically," Ware said. "That's something we should be concerned about."

After Council Chair Myron Lowery said they had all been contacted by constituents about applicants being unfairly disqualified, Councilmember Bill Boyd said that he represented a wide area of the city and had not received "one piece of mail, one e-mail, one telephone call about anything being unfair" with MPD, and that when the chair said they all had, "we all haven't."

Halbert returned that she had a number of families contact her.

"Their boys have been wrongfully arrested; the tickets have been dismissed; and then that's used against them in police hiring," she said.

The executive session also included discussions of the fairgrounds redevelopment plan and the city's foreclosure crisis plan.

Addressing Police, Update

The City Council's public safety and homeland security committee voted today to send a police residency resolution to the full council.

The resolution would allow police officers to live within 20 miles of the Shelby County line.

"The police department has said that one third of the new hires have said that if they were required to live in the city of Memphis, they would not have applied," said Council member Jim Strickland. "I think crime is important enough to make this exception. That's why I'm voting for it."

Barbara Swearengen Ware and Harold Collins were against the resolution. Collins said he thought the council should wait and see how effective the MPD's new marketing campaign is before changing the residency requirement.

Ware has long been a vocal supporter of police officers living within the city limits.

"As we speak, [the police department] has 1,000 applications," she said. "Are you not willing to allow the process to work? Or are you just determined to get folk that don't live in Memphis to work and go back home to Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri?"

But council member Shea Flinn said the current restriction puts the city at a competitive disadvantage.

"If you go back to the task force, only one out of seven [applicants] gets hired. Out of 1,000, that's 140, and with our attrition, it's not enough," Flinn said. "Either we're going to address this need or we're not. ... Either you want your pride or you want your safety."

Addressing Police

(Getting a late start on things this morning ... erm, afternoon, whatever, sorry.)

Tuesday, while Memphis voters are deciding whether division directors, legal department employees, and chief administrative staff should reside within the city limits, the City Council's public safety committee will take up a resolution to allow police officers to reside within 20 miles of the Shelby County line.

Hiring a full complement of police officers has been both a mandate from and a challenge for "the new council." (Sorry, that's what I still call the bumper crop of new council members from the last municipal election.)

In May, I wrote about Councilman Harold Collins' idea to levy a $1,200 a year fee on police officers who lived outside the city. Collins decided on that amount because of the average property tax bill.

At the time, Collins had this to say:

"How hard is it to move to Memphis? The best idea is for everybody who wants to work for the city to move into the city and then we could be happily ever after. We're a long way from Camelot. This is the next best thing."

He also said that the pay difference between Memphis and its surrounding jurisdictions would more than make up for the fee.

If you're interested in reading the rest of that story, you can find it here, but the Memphis Police Association was not in favor of Collins' plan.

"I live in Memphis. If I call the fire department, I don't care where they live," said police association president James Sewell. "I just want them to come quickly and put out the fire."

The council's public safety committee will also discuss the recommendations from the police hiring task force Tuesday.

Paid Protection, part two

It looks like Harold Collins' residency proposal for Memphis police officers is moving forward.

In executive committee today, the proposed resolution to allow police officers to live outside Memphis — but charge them $1,200 for the privilege of doing so — passed in a close 7-6 vote, meaning it will go before the full council at its June 17th meeting.

In what he called a compromise — for more, click here — Collins suggested charging officers who live outside the city the average property tax bill. But several veteran council members said they would not support any measure that allowed officers to live outside the city limits.

"The purpose of people living in the city goes beyond whether or not they pay property taxes," said Barbara Swearengen Ware. "I don't want you to work for the city and have the Mississippi attitude that you go home at night ... and don't have to worry about folk in Memphis except for the eight hours you're at work."

Ware, Janis Fullilove, Wanda Halbert, Edmund Ford Jr., Joe Brown, and Myron Lowery voted against the proposal.

Public safety committee chair Reid Hedgepeth has asked council members for ways to increase the number of police officers in Memphis for several months now.

"We've had 2,000 officers for three or four years. We've reduced the college requirement and we're still hovering around 2,000," he said. "Are we worried about people coming up here and protecting our citizens? ... They're willing to come up here and risk their lives and we're going to tell them we don't want them?"

Collins, Hedgepeth, Shea Flinn, Bill Boyd, Bill Morrison, Jim Strickland, and Scott McCormick voted for the proposal.