Tyler Merbler | Wikimedia | Creative Commons
United States Capitol, 2021
A Memphis City Council committee passed a resolution Tuesday requesting an investigation of any public safety employees involved in the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.
The resolution asks Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration to “develop and present a plan to the council” revealing those employees and creating a “process to ensure former city of Memphis public safety employees re-hiring status reflects participation in [the] U.S. Capitol riots.”
The council’s public safety committee gave a near-anonymous approval of the resolution with only council member Worth Morgan voting against it. The resolution is sponsored by council members Michalyn Easter-Thomas, Martavius Jones, J B Smiley, and Dr. Jeff Warren.
The resolution comes as “several sworn police officers from departments across the nation now face federal criminal charges as a result of their participation in the insurrection,” it reads. That becomes important, it says, to further “address concerns about the need for increased oversight and accountability within public-safety-based departments, especially in light of 2020’s international call for reform within the criminal justice system.”
“I think we need to amend the resolution in the first recital to say the Memphis City Council hereby requests the director of Police Services to investigate whether any city of Memphis employees, based upon evidence provided by FBI of such participation in the U.S. Capitol riot,” said council member Chase Carlisle. “We don’t need to get sued.”
Jones suggested including the Secret Service and other federal agencies to the groups providing evidence. Council members expanded the resolution to legitimate evidence from citizens who may have captured the event.
