Former MPD Police Chief weighs in on DOJ investigation
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Former Memphis Police Department Police Chief Tony Armstrong was one of several law experts who spoke on a panel about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Pattern or Practice investigation into the Memphis Police Department (MPD).
Armstrong, who oversaw MPD until 2016 and made the decision to add mandatory body-worn cameras for all officers, shared his perspective on the DOJ’s investigation.
“There are a lot of things we simply just don’t understand. There are a lot of things we don’t have the resources to implement, and we kind of need the DOJ to give us some kind of guidance on how to do that,” Armstrong said during the panel on Monday.
The DOJ concluded their Pattern or Practice investigation into MPD, which followed but was not solely related to the death of Tyre Nichols, by claiming that Memphis Police regularly engaged in civil rights violations. Specifically, the DOJ said they found that MPD uses excessive force, conducts unlawful stops, searches, and arrests, and unlawfully discriminates against Black people when enforcing the law, and that both MPD and the City unlawfully discriminate in their response to people with behavioral health disabilities. DOJ also said they “identified serious concerns about MPD’s treatment of children.”
The City of Memphis announced that it would not agree to work toward or enter into a consent decree, or a court-approved settlement agreement between the parties, with the department. The city said that the 17-month span of the investigation, when other investigations of this type have taken years, implied a rush to judgment.
However, it seems that the door hasn’t completely closed on some type of agreement between the City of Memphis and the DOJ.
Judicial commissioner and former MPD legal counsel Zayid Saleem and City of Memphis Chief Legal Officer Tannera Gibson joined Armstrong on Monday’s panel. The panelist agreed that there is always room for improvement in the department’s policies and procedures.
“When an officer comes up short, when an officer fails to adhere to policy and procedures, there’s accountability, and that’s also incumbent on Chief Davis and her team,” said Saleem.
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