Department of Justice
The Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) has announced they will no longer have a collaborative reform partnership with the Memphis Police Department to review their community policing and use of deadly force policies.
Press secretary for the COPS office, Mary Bradenberger, said that the office has made technical assistance and training resources available for MPD’s use moving forward.
“The COPS office appreciates the leadership of MPD and the City of Memphis for requesting assistance from the Department of Justice and supports their efforts as they continue to move forward and advance community policing and strengthen relationships in their community,” said Bradneberger.
The COPS office announced their partnership with MPD less than six months ago, in late October 2016. The review process was expected to take up two years and would have produced a lengthy report of findings and suggestions for enhancing community policing within the MPD.
Following public criticism of the recently released City Hall escort list, The Memphis Flyer reached out to the COPS office for comment regarding the controversy, but the office declined to respond.
