MPD adds officers to interstate patrol Ramps up efforts to squash shootings
Officials with the Memphis Police Department said the interstate shootings in Memphis haven’t stopped, and more officers will be deployed in hopes of stymieing the number of shootings that take place between two cars traveling on interstate passages.
Following a road rage incident on Wednesday morning that occurred in the northbound lanes of I-240 near Union Extended, Deputy Chief Sam
Hines announced that Operation Safe Travels Part II, was now in effect.
“It’s an addition to what was going on in the summer and fall,” said Hines, referring to Operation Grizzly Bear Blues, in which troopers from the Tennessee Highway Patrol joined MPD in increasing the amount of law enforcement monitoring interstate travel.
In the first half of 2019 alone, 32 incidents of road rage shooting along Memphis interstates were reported.
“Incidents like this are unintended consequences of guns in cars with irresponsible individuals. Citizens now have guns in their cars, available, during road rage incidents,” Hines said.
“Incidents that would have ended
with yelling, honking of a horn, or a possible hand gesture is now escalating into gun-play,” Hines said.
For Operation Safe Travels Part II, officers assigned to the road safety task force will join the usual amount of officers assigned to highway patrol, which is always at least one officer out of all nine precincts, Hines said.
Data-driven policing will help MPD determine where additional task force officers will be assigned.
Safe Travels II started on Monday. Troopers from the Tennessee Highway Patrol will join MPD on Friday.
Some of those officers, Hines said, will be in unmarked cars.
“The officers will be in an unmarked car, and will be able to spot individuals driving erratic and causing road-rage type incidents.
We’ll be able to get information on those cars, and then have the marked cars pull them over,” Hines said.