Tag: 1978 Kendrick consent Decree

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Lawyer Tells Judge City is Violating Local News Organization’s First Amendment Rights

Memphis City Hall

A national media rights organization told a federal judge this week that the city may be violating a federal consent decree in its treatment of local news organization MLK50: Justice Through Journalism.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press sent a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Jon McCalla Monday, alleging that by refusing to add MLK50 to its media contact list, the city is violating the 1978 Kendrick Consent Decree, MLK50 reported Tuesday.

McCalla was the judge in the 2018 police surveillance case, in which he ruled that the city had violated the consent decree by using social media and other tactics to surveil activists. Now, McCalla, and a monitoring team he appointed, is overseeing the city and police department’s adherence to the decree, which prevents the police department from gathering intelligence in ways that violate people’s First Amendment rights.

According to the letter sent by Paul McAdoo, Tennessee’s staff attorney for the Reporter’s Committee Local Legal Initiative, the city “has refused MLK50’s repeated requests to add Ms. [Wendi] Thomas, and MLK50’s managing editor, Deborah Douglas, to the city’s media advisory lists, which is inconsistent with the city’s obligations under the Kendrick Consent Decree.”

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The letter then highlights a section of the decree that instructs the city not to “disrupt, discredit, interfere with, or otherwise harass any person exercising First Amendment rights.”

The next section of the decree instructs the city not to “engage in any action for the purpose of, or reasonably having the effect of deterring any person from exercising First Amendment rights.”

McAdoo writes that the city has interfered with MLK50’s First Amendment rights and attempted to deter journalists from exercising those rights “by refusing to add them to the city’s media advisory lists.”

Lawyer Tells Judge City is Violating Local News Organization’s First Amendment Rights

According to the letter, Thomas, the founder, editor, and publisher of MLK50, was on the city’s media list until January 2019, but learned she had been removed in fall 2019. Since then, Thomas, along with managing editor Douglass has asked the city to re-add MLK50 to the list, but the “city refused to do so.”

“The city’s refusal is motivated by its perception that MLK50’s coverage of it is somehow unfair or not objective,” McAdoo writes. “Such content- and viewpoint-discrimination, however, runs afoul of the First Amendment … Not having the same access to information available to other members of the media whom the city has included on its media advisory list interferes with MLK50 and its journalists’ First Amendment rights and is done to deter their coverage of the city, both of which are violations of the Kendrick consent decree.”

The city did not immediately respond to the Flyer‘s request for comment.

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Hearing to Modify Consent Decree on Police Surveillance Set for June


The city will get to make its case for modifying the 1978 consent decree prohibiting 

police surveillance in June.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla denied the city’s motion to immediately “significantly modify” the 1978 Kendrick Consent Decree. The city argued that the decree prohibits the Memphis Police Department (MPD) from “using other agencies or persons as ‘surrogates’ to do indirectly what it could not do directly,” preventing coordination between law enforcement agencies.

But McCalla denied the request, saying that because all parties have not agreed to the modification of the consent decree, there would have to be an evidentiary hearing before the court could make a ruling.

Thursday McCalla said an evidentiary trial hearing on that matter is set preliminary for June 17th. Then, the court will review all of the information it’s received and make a decision on if the consent decree should be modified and if so, what changes should be made.

The team appointed to ensure and monitor MPD’s compliance to the consent decree gave its third progress update to the court Thursday.

At Thursday’s hearing, Rachel Levinson-Waldman, the monitoring team’s social media and public policy expert, discussed the social media policies for federal agencies. Levinson-Waldman said the FBI and IRS are the only two agencies that use social media for investigative purposes and have a publicly available policy.

The FBI guidelines allows for collecting First-Amendment-protected information only if its related to an authorized investigation. The collection will not interfere with the individual’s Constitutionally protected rights, and if the method of investigation is the “least intrusive alternative.”

Levinson-Waldman said that these guidelines mirror language in the 1978 Consent Decree.

Generally, the FBI guidelines allow for more intrusive investigative methods as the level of the investigated increases.

One key piece of the FBI guideline Levinson-Waldman noted is that during an inquiry, unless related to federal crimes or national security, the agency is allowed to search and review public social media accounts, but is prohibited from using fictitious personas or engage in undercover activity.

MPD’s use of the undercover Facebook account of Bob Smith was one of the violations noted in McCalla’s ruling last fall. The account friended more than 200 activists.

One of the takeaways from Thursday’s hearing for local activist Hunter Demster is that there aren’t many clear, outlined policies nationally of local and federal law enforcement agency’s social media use.

“From the get-go, a lot of us have said that is going to be one of the most important elements that comes out of this entire process,” Demster said. I think we have an opportunity to set the standard for the rest of the country. I think it’s important to look at what other federal and local departments have done, but I think we need to pave a new path forward. At the center needs to be people and their civil rights, not necessarily public safety.”

The monitoring team and the city were given until Tuesday, November 26th to submit the most recent draft of the new MPD social media policies and training procedures, as well as an audit and compliance plan to the court.

The monitor team is looking to hold focus groups early next year. Dr. Sheila Peters, an associate professor of physiology at Fisk University will lead those groups. McCalla said this is an important piece of the process as “everyone is entitled to be heard.”

Attorneys for city questioned if the discussions from the focus group will be used for evidentiary purposes. McCalla said the discussions won’t be evidence but “important input.” The groups will create space for the public to bring new concerns to the table and gather public sentiment, he said.

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Monitor in Police Spying Case Holds Second Public Forum

CREDIT: Brandon Dill

Brandon Dill

Protesters and police officers face off during the 2016 Hernando de Soto bridge protest

The court-appointed team tasked with monitoring the Memphis Police Department’s (MPD) adherence to a 1978 consent decree prohibiting police surveillance is holding its second public meeting Thursday (today).

Last year, U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla appointed the team after ruling that the police department had violated the Kendrick consent decree of 1978 by participating in political surveillance on activists here.

The team’s first public forum in July left many activists feeling unheard and wanting more of a voice in the monitoring team’s process.

Now, the team wants to hear new concerns from the public tonight at 6 p.m. at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland promoted the meeting last week in his weekly email to constituents.

“The purpose of this meeting is for you to give your thoughts about the decree and its impact on our community,” Strickland wrote. “If you are concerned about your neighborhood receiving a Sky Cop or your child’s school having a traffic camera and license plate readers, please don’t miss this meeting.”

But, Strickland also noted in the newsletter that the consent decree was signed “long before the internet, social media, and other modern technology became a routine part of our lives.”

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Strickland said the decree limits MPD’s use of technology in fighting crime, and potentially restricts MPD’s ability to coordinate with other agencies, like the Multiagency Gang Unit.

“To put it in more everyday terms — it may restrict the use of Sky Cops, traffic cameras, interstate cameras, and publicly available social media post which may provide a warning of a public safety threat,” the mayor wrote.

Earlier this year, Ed Stanton III, who is heading the monitoring team, told the Flyer that finding the balance at the intersection of a 1978 consent decree and 21st century police techniques is a challenge.

“In 1978, you didn’t have the internet, social media, SkyCop, body cams, etc,” Stanton said. “We have to ensure that public safety remains a priority, but at the same time, ensuring compliance with the consent decree. There’s a balance there.”

See the agenda for tonight’s meeting below.


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Monitor in Police Spying Case to Seek Feedback at Community Forum

CREDIT: Brandon Dill

Brandon Dill

Protesters and police officers face off during the 2016 Hernando de Soto bridge protest


The team appointed to monitor the Memphis Police Department’s (MPD) compliance to a federal judge’s ruling on police surveillance wants to hear from the community at a public forum this Thursday.

After the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee won a lawsuit against the city on behalf of Memphis activists last year, U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla appointed former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton of the Butler Snow Law Firm to lead the independent group tasked with monitoring MPD’s progress and adherence to the court’s orders.

The question at hand during the August trial: Did MPD violate the 1978 Kendrick Consent Decree which prohibits political surveillance and interference of an individual’s First Amendment rights? McCalla ruled that MPD did violate that decree by actively pursuing covert surveillance of four local activists.

The city violated several areas of the consent agreement, McCalla ruled, including: intercepting phone calls and electronic communications, using a fake Facebook profile of “Bob Smith” to learn of activists’ activities, and failing to properly inform officers of the parameters of the 1978 ruling.

✖ Thursday’s meeting will take place at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Midtown from 6-7:30 p.m. click to tweet

Now, in an effort to “encourage transparent dialogue,” the monitoring team will hold a series of community meetings to share updates on the group’s work and to allow the community to give feedback on the city’s efforts to comply with the 1978 consent decree.

Thursday’s meeting will take place at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Midtown from 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask the team questions and learn more about MPD’s progress with compliance. Representatives of the ACLU will also be at the meeting to answer questions.

A second public forum is tentatively slated for the fall. The monitoring team also launched a website this month to keep the public informed on the group’s efforts. 


Apart from appointing the monitoring team, McCalla also ordered MPD to revise its policy on political surveillance, train officers on the decree, establish a process for criminal investigations that may result in political intelligence, establish written guidelines for using social media searches, maintain a list of those searches, and submit that list to the court four times a year.

On August 27th, the monitoring team will return to McCalla’s courtroom to give a 90-day progress report. At an April hearing, McCalla said he would like to have a draft of MPD’s revised information-gathering policy by the August court date.