MEMPHIS, Tenn. —
Tuesday marked a final push to get six proposed Memphis Police Department (MPD) and Memphis Fire Department (MFD) reform ordinances across the finish line and passed.
The measures were sparked by Tyre Nichols' beating by several MPD officers in January.
“I think we have some council members wavering,” councilman J.B. Smiley said during the discussion. “We went from overwhelming support to a slight majority. But a majority is enough to get it done. I think our job is to reflect the will of the people of Memphis and the people of Memphis are saying they want some reform.”
Here's the voting results of the six ordinances brought before Memphis City Council Tuesday:
- Ordinance to establish a procedure for MPD to conduct an annual, independent review of its police training academy and all training techniques - PASSED.
- Ordinance to clarify the appropriate methods of enforcing traffic stops - DELAYED to a later date.
- Ordinance to require MPD to only conduct traffic stops in properly marked police cars - PASSED.
- Ordinance to require public reports on police complaints and access to officers and witnesses - PASSED.
- Ordinance to establish an independent review process of MPD incidents including excessive force, and provide that information to the Citizen's Law Enforcement Review Board - PASSED.
- Ordinance to improve transparency within MPD by creating a public database of traffic stops, use of force incidents and misconduct complaints - PASSED.
MPD Chief C. J. Davis and the department said they already began their own reforms.
“The last several weeks we have really taken a closer look into, not just our policy and procedures, but just best practices,” chief Davis said.
MPD said they now will randomly review body-worn camera footage. They're also changing the criteria for how officers are chosen for special crime initiatives and enacting examination while officers are on special assignments.
What Memphis residents said at City Council
Those with the criminal justice reform group Decarcerate Memphis said MPD’s promised changes aren't good enough without the city council approving all six of its own measures.
“My question is why that is just now happening," Chelsea glass from Decarcerate Memphis said. Four out of five of them had, I guess we can call them, flags in their personal records, and again this is not a proactive response to making sure that people are being kept safe. If we did something, we’ll catch it after it happens. That’s not accountability. That’s not transparency.”
While some community members advocated for all of the ordinances directed at law enforcement to be passed, like LJ Abraham and well-known local activist Amber Sherman, others weren’t in agreement.
“I never feel safe when it comes down to police,” Abraham said. “My siblings don’t feel safe when it comes to police. The black people sitting in this room don’t feel safe when it comes to police but adding unmarked police cars to that makes it even more dangerous, it’s a problem.”
A community member on the opposite side, Seth Coker, said “I don’t see the need to remove unmarked cars from traffic enforcement, it makes us less safe.” “We need our specialized units, we need our police, we need our police to do what they need, we need safety.”
Ordinance 18 and 21 received the most passion from both sides. The now passed ordinance number 18 requires the Memphis Police Department to use only appropriately marked law enforcement vehicles to conduct traffic stops, meaning routine traffic stops can not be done in unmarked police vehicles.
The now passed ordinance number 21 would require the city of Memphis law enforcement to collect and report data on traffic stops, arrests, use of force and complaints.
Chief CJ Davis was in attendance as the ordinances were heard and passed and as multiple community members directed their hesitancies to the chief and council members specifically.
“I’m asking this [city council] body to pick a side,” Amber Sherman said. “Cover-ups or transparency? Brutality or freedom? Corruption or accountability? What side are you on?”
An amendment was made to ordinance number 18 by Councilman J.B. Smiley to add that in extreme circumstances, traffic stops can be done in unmarked police vehicles.
“My particular amendment spoke specifically to what exigent circumstances mean and exigent circumstances in this particular scenario is a situation where a reasonable person would believe someone was in danger of bodily harm or potential death,” Smiley said.
As the ordinances prepare to be put into action in the city, activists said their fight isn’t over until there are no more deaths like Tyre Nichols.
Moving forward - city council member Smiley also wants pension reform looked at for those who violate MPD policy.
The city's chief legal officer Jennnifer Sink said a lieutenant who supervised the MPD officers and was on scene the night of Tyre Nichols' beating, retired before he would have been fired in a disciplinary hearing.