National Guard patrols begin Friday, City of Memphis says
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – National Guardsmen will begin patrolling Memphis on Friday, according to the City of Memphis.
Thursday morning, the city’s website read, “The Memphis Safe Task Force began operations the week of 9/29, with Tennessee National Guard patrols beginning 10/10.”
The National Guard is just one of nearly two dozen agencies making up the Memphis Safe Task Force. Thursday morning, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the task force had arrested 562 people and seized 144 illegal guns.
Wednesday, Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis spoke at a town hall about how she plans to use the National Guardsmen.
“We’re trying to utilize Guard personnel in non-enforcement types of capacities,” Davis said. “So it does not feel like there’s this over-militarization in our communities, in our neighborhoods. You know, we are not utilizing them to do checkpoints or anything like that. And we’re hoping to utilize some of our Guard personnel helping to direct traffic, and having to be visible in retail corridors.”
When Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced the deployment of the National Guard to Memphis, alongside Davis and Memphis Mayor Paul Young, he said that the guard would not have arrest powers and would not be armed, unless authorized to be armed by local law enforcement.
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