City: Decree puts officers, investigations at risk
After a 2018 trial, a federal judge ordered the city of Memphis and the Memphis Police Department to record all of the search terms MPD officers use to monitor social media.
Those reports are supposed to be filed, under seal, every three months to ensure Memphis’ compliance with the 1978 Kendrick consent decree — the court order intended to keep MPD from engaging in political surveillance. An independent monitor, Edward Stanton III, is tasked with making sure MPD does what it’s supposed to do.
Whether Memphis is complying with the court’s requirement to file those social media search terms is now the subject of dispute, according to court filings.
On Sunday, city attorneys filed a request for a hearing before U.S. District Judge Jon Mccalla. In that filing, they
revealed that Stanton, the independent monitor, believed they weren’t complying with Mccalla’s orders.
“On February 28, 2020, the City received the Monitor’s Letter to the Court explaining that he believed the City has been departing from Sanction 5 of the Court’s Opinion and Order,” the filing said. “The Monitor recommended that the Court schedule a hearing ‘to allow the City to explain its departure from Sanction 5 and present its proposed alternatives directly to the Court.’”
Mccalla promptly set the hearing for March 17.
City has ‘worked very diligently to comply’
And, in a statement to The Commercial Appeal, Memphis revealed it may not be sharing the social media terms used by undercover cops and those investigating child predators, gangs and other organized crime. It also said it has “worked very diligently to comply.”
“The request for a hearing was prompted by issues over an interpretation of Section 5 of the court’s order to provide search terms, and how it applies to sensitive matters such as internet crimes against children, undercover officers, gang and organized crime investigations,” Jennifer Sink, the city’s chief legal officer, said in a statement.
Sink said, “The city will not do anything to put these officers, their families or their investigations at risk. Our purpose
Jennifer Sink, in asking for the hearing is to ensure that we follow the court’s order while protecting these investigations and our undercover officers from harm.”
Samuel
Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He welcomes tips and feedback from the public. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com.
“Our purpose in asking for the hearing is to ensure that we follow the court’s order while protecting these investigations and our undercover officers from harm.” the city’s chief legal officer in a statement