Department of Justice
An update from the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) has announced they will continue with their review process of the Memphis Police Department’s community policing and use of deadly force policies after stating earlier today that they would be dissolving the partnership.
According to the COPS office, the previous announcement occurred because the office had not received a signed memorandum of agreement (MOA) from Mayor Jim Strickland, a critical requirement of the reform process.
“The COPS Office looks forward to a productive engagement and commends Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings for his commitment to community policing, organizational transformation, and improved police-community trust,” said COPS press secretary Mary Bradenberger.
The City of Memphis’ chief communications officer, Ursula Madden, said that their chief legal officer, Bruce McMullen, confirmed MPD’s participation of the COPS assessment earlier this week with the acting U.S. Attorney for West Tennessee, Larry Laurenzi. It was agreed that Mayor Jim Strickland would sign the MOA on Friday, March 3.
Madden said that they were “shocked” at the DOJ’s press release on Friday morning, and that the mayor had indeed signed a MOA as promised.
“We have been in constant contact with the DOJ and members of the COPS Office since October, and have worked on good faith on this collaborative process,” said Madden.
Madden contributed the DOJ’s announcement to a miscommunication, and said the City of Memphis was ready to move forward with the COPS Office review process.
