(CN) — The city of Memphis and the beleaguered Memphis Police Department will be the latest law enforcement agency and major American city to face a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to an announcement Thursday by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Clarke.
The investigation was not precipitated by any single incident or event, including the January 2023 murder of Tyre Nichols, who was beaten by Memphis police officers while restrained after fleeing a misdemeanor traffic stop. But in the months since, Clarke said, the DOJ has received “multiple reports of officers escalating encounters with community members resulting in excessive force,” while “there are also indications that officers may use force punitively when faced with behavior they perceive to be insolent.”
The DOJ’s “pattern and practice” investigation will examine three primary questions: whether the MPD engages in a pattern and practice of making unlawful stops, searches and arrests; whether the MPD engages in a pattern and practice of using excessive force and whether the MPD engages in racially discriminatory policing practicing with regards to Black residents.
Clarke said preliminary information indicates some MPD officers may use force against people already restrained or in custody, at times resulting in serious physical injuries. Other information indicates MPD “may be using an approach to street enforcement that may result in violations of federal law including racially discriminatory stops of Black people for minor violations.”
“This federal civil rights investigation will examine whether the PD has violated the Constitution or federal civil rights laws in a systemic way,” Clarke said.
Kevin G. Ritz U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, said Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis had both been briefed on the investigation and both declared their cooperation and support. The investigation will include interviews with police officers, community members, nonprofit organizations, public officials and religious leaders, among others. The conclusions of the investigation will be published in a public report upon completion.
“Public safety requires public trust in law enforcement,” Ritz said. “Community trust makes policing more effective and less dangerous. To build and maintain that trust, police officers must conduct themselves constitutionally and lawfully.”
In June, the DOJ announced the results of a similar investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department, where it found a pattern and practice of the use of excessive force and discriminatory treatment of Black and Native American people, along with retaliatory behavior toward journalists and protestors. There, the DOJ was attracted by the murder of George Floyd, which sparked months of protests and an unsuccessful effort to disband the police department.
In March, yet another investigation discovered similar abuses within the Louisville Police Department, which came under scrutiny following the shooting death of Breonna Taylor during the execution of a no-knock warrant.
The DOJ is also currently investigating the Louisiana State Police and the Phoenix Police Department for pattern and practice abuses.
In Memphis, Nichols died of blunt-force injuries he received from members of the MPD’s since-disbanded Scorpion Unit, a group of largely undercover officers in unmarked cars who targeted petty crime in high-crime, largely Black neighborhoods. All five officers involved in the beating were subsequently dismissed from the MPD and later charged with second-degree murder, along with other offenses.
If the DOJ does find evidence of pattern and practice abuses, the city will have an opportunity to define remedies. If they cannot agree, the DOJ will file a lawsuit, Clarke warned.
“We will follow the facts and law wherever they lead,” she said. “I hope that community members will trust us to share their stories and views.”
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