The American Civil Liberties Union wants it. Community groups across South Memphis and North Memphis have demanded it in public meetings. At least three city council members have said they’d welcome it. And in Washington, the Department of Justice is watching Memphis the way it has watched other cities that ended up under federal investigation.
A formal DOJ pattern-or-practice investigation of the Memphis Police Department hasn’t been announced. Nobody at the Justice Department has confirmed one is coming. What’s growing, week by week, is the pressure for it to happen. And the real question of what it would mean for a city heading into its most dangerous season with a police force that’s already stretched past its limits.
Five former officers from MPD’s disbanded SCORPION unit are facing state murder charges in the death of Tyre Nichols. Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, and Justin Smith are awaiting trial. Federal civil rights charges could follow. The case has put Memphis policing under a national microscope, and the lens isn’t flattering.
For residents trying to figure out what comes next, the timing couldn’t be worse. Summer starts in two weeks. And in Memphis, summer means crime goes up.
What a Pattern-or-Practice Investigation Actually Is
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has the authority to investigate local police departments when there’s reason to believe officers are engaging in a “pattern or practice” of violating constitutional rights. It’s spelled out in a federal statute passed after the Rodney King beating in 1991. Since then, the DOJ has opened investigations into departments in cities including Ferguson, Chicago, Baltimore, Minneapolis, and Louisville.
Here’s how it typically works. The DOJ sends a team of investigators and attorneys to the city. They review use-of-force reports, internal affairs files, training records, and complaint data. They ride along with officers. They interview current and former cops, city officials, and community members. The process takes a year or more.
If investigators find a pattern of unconstitutional behavior, the DOJ and the city negotiate a consent decree, a court-enforceable agreement that mandates specific reforms. An independent monitor oversees implementation. The whole process, from investigation to full compliance, can take a decade.
That’s what happened in Chicago after the Laquan McDonald shooting. It’s what happened in Baltimore after Freddie Gray. And it’s what many Memphis residents and advocacy groups say needs to happen here.
The Case for a Federal Look at Memphis
The ACLU of Tennessee filed a formal request with the DOJ in February, asking for a pattern-or-practice investigation. Their letter cited the Nichols case, the structure of the SCORPION unit, and what they described as a history of aggressive policing in predominantly Black neighborhoods.
The request didn’t come out of nowhere. Before Tyre Nichols, Memphis had already seen a string of controversial use-of-force incidents. Lawsuits alleging excessive force by MPD officers have cost the city millions in settlements over the past five years. Internal affairs investigations have been criticized as slow and opaque.
Community organizations in Orange Mound, Whitehaven, and Frayser have held meetings calling for federal oversight. The argument is straightforward: if MPD can’t police itself, someone else needs to.
On the city council, the conversation is more cautious. Some members have publicly supported a DOJ investigation. Others worry about the cost and disruption. A consent decree comes with an independent monitor, and monitors aren’t cheap. Chicago’s monitoring team costs the city roughly $3 million per year. Memphis’s budget is a fraction of Chicago’s.
Police Chief CJ Davis has said the department is committed to reform and has already made changes since Nichols’ death, including disbanding the SCORPION unit and revising use-of-force policies. Whether those changes satisfy the DOJ, or the public, remains an open question.
Summer Crime and a Department Running Short
Memphis has a consistent, documented pattern: violent crime rises between May and September. It’s not unique to Memphis. Most American cities see the same seasonal trend. People are outside more. Days are longer. Social interactions increase, and so do conflicts.
What makes Memphis different is the scale. The city recorded 346 homicides in 2022, continuing a surge that started during the pandemic. Aggravated assaults have climbed every year since 2019. Carjackings, which barely registered as a category a decade ago, became a daily occurrence.
MPD is heading into this summer with approximately 1,900 sworn officers, down from a budgeted strength of nearly 2,400. The department graduated two academy classes in 2022 and has another in progress, so new officers are coming. They’re just not coming fast enough to replace the experienced cops who’ve left for suburban departments, federal agencies, or private sector jobs that pay more and carry less risk.
The math is brutal. Fewer officers means longer response times. Longer response times mean more crimes go unanswered in real time. More unanswered crimes mean less community trust. Less trust means fewer people cooperating with investigations. It’s a cycle that feeds itself, and there’s no quick fix.
A DOJ investigation, if one materializes, would add another layer of complexity. Officers operating under federal scrutiny tend to become more cautious. Criminologists call it the “Ferguson effect,” the theory that intense public and legal scrutiny of police leads officers to pull back from proactive enforcement. Whether you think that’s a reasonable response or a dereliction of duty depends on where you sit. Either way, it’s a documented phenomenon.
For Memphis, a city that needs its police officers to be both more active and more accountable at the same time, that tension has no easy resolution.
Private Security Fills the Vacuum
While the political and legal debates play out, residents and business owners aren’t waiting. Private security hiring in Memphis has surged since 2020, and the trend shows no sign of slowing.
Businesses along Poplar Avenue, in the Warehouse District, and around the University of Memphis have added security guards, mobile patrols, and camera monitoring systems. Apartment complexes in Hickory Hill and Raleigh that never had private security five years ago now budget for it as a standard operating expense.
The private security industry in Tennessee is regulated by the Department of Commerce and Insurance. Companies need a state license. Individual guards need registration cards. Armed guards face additional requirements including firearms training and background checks. The system works reasonably well, though enforcement is uneven. TDCI has a limited number of investigators covering the entire state.
What private security can do is provide a visible presence and a faster response to property crimes, trespassing, and disturbances, exactly the types of calls where MPD response times have deteriorated most. What they can’t do is replace actual police work. Investigations, arrests, search warrants, working with prosecutors. That’s still MPD’s job, even when the department doesn’t have the resources to do it well.
What Memphians Should Watch For
If the DOJ decides to open a formal investigation, we’ll know. The announcement will be public, likely accompanied by a press conference and statements from the Attorney General’s office. That hasn’t happened yet. The signals to watch are subtler.
Has the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division assigned staff to review Memphis? Have they made informal requests for documents from the city? Are there conversations happening between federal attorneys and city lawyers that haven’t been disclosed? None of that is public, and both sides have incentive to keep preliminary discussions quiet.
City council budget discussions this summer will be revealing. If council members start allocating money for potential consent decree compliance or setting aside funds for an independent monitor, that suggests they know something the public doesn’t.
In the meantime, Memphis faces a familiar summer. Hot days. Block parties on weekends. Kids out of school with too much time and not enough to do. Fireworks on the Fourth of July, and gunfire that sounds too much like fireworks. The usual heartbreak of a city that can’t seem to fix the things it most needs to fix.
Whatever the DOJ decides to do, the officers still wearing MPD uniforms will be out there this summer working longer shifts with fewer partners and heavier caseloads. The people they serve will be watching, recording, and judging every interaction. The stakes are high for everyone involved.
Memphis has been through difficult summers before. This one comes with more uncertainty than most, and the weight of what happened on January 7 on a quiet street near the intersection of Ross Road and Castlegate Lane will hang over every decision the city makes for a long time.
That’s not a prediction. That’s just where things stand in May 2023.