Memphis City Council Chair: reevaluation of policing needed
In a video interview with The Commercial Appeal last week, Memphis City Council Chairwoman Patrice Robinson talked of timing.
To Robinson, given the unrest seen nationwide and in Memphis this summer, it was not the right time to have a November referendum on whether public safety employees could live outside Shelby County.
Robinson does not entirely disagree with the argument Memphis could use more police officers, but she’s not sold yet. And, she noted another Memphis milestone on the horizon: The replacement of Memphis Police Director Mike Rallings.
“I don’t think the Council is totally against making some changes. What those changes should be... I believe that we need to sit back [and] do a little more thoughtful process,” Robinson said in an interview with The Commercial Appeal. “We’re about to select, at some point between now and April, a new police director who needs to be able to chime in.” Robinson represented a crucial swing vote on a pair of 7-6 decisions from the council, decisions, that taken together, could represent a turning point for Memphis.
The decisions — a vote to remove the residency referendum from the ballot and then a vote to override Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s veto of the referendum vote — did not stall the Strickland administration’s pursuit of more police officers, but it did show that there is political will in evaluating alternatives.
A referendum on the residency requirement would’ve given voters the opportunity to decide whether public safety employees could live outside Shelby County limits. New hires at the Memphis police and fire departments are now required to live within county limits. In interviews and public statements, Strickland and his administration have argued that the pool of Shelby County candidates is near tapped out.
The debate over the residency referendum has been framed as two competing visions for Memphis governance — with one side arguing law and order and the other arguing for increased investment in community programs.
Robinson took a middle road and, in her answer, showed the nuance of the issues that have been debated for months. When asked if there’s a need for more police, she said there could be, but there’s also a need to evaluate what police officers do, what could be done by police service technicians or mental health professionals, and where police officers spend their time.
Robinson advocated for a report card for the Memphis Police Department, something that could show the public in clear terms how the police department is performing and what it does.
While she went against Strickland on those two votes, she praised the mayor and his administration, saying he has done a “phenomenal job.”
She said she is not against potentially loosening the residency rules in the future or other methods of attracting more police, but she also described the expectation, and burden placed on police officers, as “archaic,” saying that a deeper evaluation of how the public’s money is being spend is needed.
“... We need to work together. I am sure the mayor is a little frustrated with us at this time. But that’s what we believe; that we need to have a little more information [and] be able to create a report card or some way to demonstrate to the public: This is what we’re doing. This is how we’re moving ahead, and especially for those citizens who are disenfranchised,” Robinson said.
Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@ commercialappeal.com.