Tag: Memphis Police Department

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News The Fly-By

Memphis United Wants Better Board to Police the Police

CREDIT: Saniphoto | Dreamstime.com

The Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB), the independent board that investigates complaints about police officers, was reinstated last June after years of being inactive. But an audit of the board by the Memphis United Coalition found that the board hasn’t reviewed a single case since then.

Part of the reason for the inactivity of the board is its lack of power, according to CLERB Chairman Rev. Ralph White. Now Memphis United has drawn up a list of demands for how CLERB should be operated and what sort of power it should have.

The group addressed those demands in the public comment period of last week’s Memphis City Council meeting, and they plan to work with council members soon to draft a full ordinance increasing CLERB’s power.

“An audit revealed several systemic flaws that limited the ability of the board to function efficiently,” said Paul Garner of Memphis United. “That includes CLERB not having the power to subpoena records or the power to require cooperation of witnesses from the Memphis Police Department.”

Saniphoto | Dreamstime.com

When a civilian has a complaint about excessive use of force by a police officer, illegal search, police harassment, poor customer service by police, property damage by police, or police following incorrect procedures, they’re supposed to first file a complaint with the Memphis Police Department’s (MPD) Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB). If they’re unhappy with the bureau’s findings, they can then appeal their complaint to CLERB.

Memphis United is suggesting that the Memphis City Council give CLERB subpoena power to gain access to police witnesses and documents, the ability to make policy recommendations to the MPD, the ability to investigate complaints concurrently with the IAB, and enough funding to conduct independent investigations into complaints of police misconduct.

“We had a private investigator at one time, and they cut that from the budget,” said White, who served on the last incarnation of the board as well.

CLERB was established in 1994 after 68-year-old Jesse Bogand was shot by police in Orange Mound. At the time, the board was intended to investigate, hear cases, and recommend action on findings of police misconduct. But since police officers were not required to cooperate and because the board didn’t have the power to subpoena documents, CLERB lacked teeth.

The board was eventually dismantled, but it was reinstated in 2014 after a few volunteers at the Manna House, a gathering place for the city’s homeless, attempted to appeal a complaint to CLERB, only to find the board had been inactive for years. The Memphis City Council voted to appoint new members to the board in June 2014, and they also voted to allow Memphis United to host public forums to gain input on how to improve the board.

White said the new board hasn’t heard cases yet because they simply don’t have much power. They’re hoping the council adopts the suggestions of Memphis United.

“We want to make sure we put some of those suggestions in place before we start hearing cases,” White said. “Right now, we simply don’t have enough power on the board to get police officers to come to hearings. We do need a bit more power and authority.”

White said, although the board wants more power, they also want the MPD to know that they’re not in place to oppose the lawful work of the department.

“We want to make sure they understand that we’re not working against them,” White said. “We just want to make sure we have a functional police department that is working for the betterment of the people.”

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Rape Kit Backlog Update

The latest update on the city’s rape kit backlog was disclosed during the Memphis City Council’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee meeting Tuesday morning.

Nearly 7,000 of the 12,374 untested rape kits discovered by the Memphis Police Department (MPD) in late 2013 and early 2014 still await laboratory analysis.

According to the Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Taskforce, at the end of January, there were still 5,846 untested rape kits. Another 1,142 have been processed for serology (evidence of bodily fluids) but haven’t been sent off to a laboratory for DNA analysis. This leaves the number of kits that have been analyzed or are at the lab awaiting analysis at 5,386.

“We’ve made improvement on every front, from the number that have come back for DNA to the number that have come back that are negative for serology,” said Doug McGowen of the SAK Taskforce. “We’ve made significant progress since last month.”

Kit testing thus far has enabled the MPD to initiate 352 investigations. Of that amount, 127 are active, and 225 are closed.

MPD investigations have resulted in 58 indictments. Of this number, 25 rapists have been identified.

Individuals convicted of aggravated rape face up to 60 years in prison.

The latest rape kit backlog numbers are below:

• 12,374 total rape kits discovered untested in 2013/2014

• 5,846 kits untested by end of January 2015

• 2,375 kits at forensic laboratories now

• 1,142 processed for at least serology

• 1,965 negative for serology

• 1,046 processed for DNA

• 352 investigations have been initiated

• 127 investigations remain active

• 225 investigations have been closed

• 28 individuals identified as being previously convicted

• 58 indictments issued

• 25 named suspects

• 33 John Does (unidentified)

• 28 victims/suspects are deceased

• 33 victims declined to participate in an investigation

• 5 victims were unable to be located by law enforcement

• 47 cases were past the statute of limitations

• 23 cases had insufficient/degraded DNA

• 3 cases investigated did not meet the statute definitions of a crime

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News The Fly-By

Several Thousand Rape Kits Still Await Analysis

More than 7,400 of the 12,374 untested rape kits discovered by the Memphis Police Department (MPD) in late 2013 and early 2014 still await laboratory analysis.

The latest update on the city’s rape-kit backlog, which includes sexual assault kits taken as far back as 1975, were disclosed during the Memphis City Council’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee meeting on Tuesday, January 20th.

According to the Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Taskforce, by the end of December, there were still 6,340 untested rape kits. Another 1,142 have been processed for serology (evidence of bodily fluids) but haven’t been sent off to a laboratory for DNA analysis.

This leaves the number of kits that have been analyzed or are at the lab awaiting analysis at 4,892.

“Testing the kits is the easy part,” said Doug McGowen of the SAK Taskforce. “We’ve already started 280-plus investigations. Each investigation takes 40 hours of police officer time. It’s going to cost a significant amount of money to put police officers and the significant support in place to do the number of investigations that we’re going to have to do.”

It’s estimated to cost more than $6.5 million to test all of the city’s backlogged rape kits. Thus far, the city has reportedly allocated $4.25 million, and the state has provided $1 million toward kit testing. 

A funding gap of $512,855 remains. The gap must be closed before the city can access a $750,000 challenge grant that was awarded by the Plough Foundation to help in the city’s kit testing.

To fill the gap as well as provide additional personnel for investigations and prosecutions, the SAK Taskforce has applied for funding being offered by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. The agency has committed to providing $35 million for rape-kit testing nationwide.

The SAK Taskforce will also apply for the White House/Department of Justice Grant Program, which is allocating $41 million to help eradicate the nation’s rape-kit backlog and improve sexual-assault investigations. The program has yet to begin accepting applications.

Additional funding for kit testing has come in the form of individual donations. More than $12,000 has been collectively donated to the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis’ Sexual Assault Resource Fund. 

A climate-controlled storage room that can hold up to 50,000 pieces of DNA evidence is projected to be completed by late May. The city council allocated $1 million to the MPD for its establishment. The storage room will be located in the old International Harvester building.

“We have an unprecedented opportunity to get additional justice in our community,” McGowen said. “We understand that there are individuals who are worrying about the status of their case and do not have closure in that part of their lives. This work is so important to do.”

Rape Kits By the Numbers:

• 12,374 total rape kits discovered untested in 2013/2014

• 6,340 kits untested by end of December 2014

• 2,075 kits at forensic laboratories now

• 1,142 processed for at least serology

• 1,771 negative for serology

• 1,046 processed for DNA

• 281 investigations have been initiated

• 105 investigations remain active

• 176 investigations have been closed

• 21 individuals identified as being previously convicted

• 52 indictments issued

• 19 named suspects

• 33 John Does (unidentified)

• 22 victims/suspects are deceased

• 30 victims declined to participate in an investigation

• 2 victims were unable to be located by law enforcement

• 28 cases were past the statute of limitations

• 19 cases had insufficient/degraded DNA

• 3 cases investigated did not meet the statute definitions of a crime

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News The Fly-By

Playback Memphis Brings Together Police and Felons

Felons and police officers may seem like especially strange bedfellows, but a Memphis theater troupe has built a bridge between some who enforce the law and some who have broken it.

And now those groups are planning to join together to help kids in Frayser stay out of trouble.

Last fall, Playback Memphis, an improv troupe that uses theater to promote healing and reconciliation, paired a group of five Memphis police officers with six ex-offenders from LifeLine to Success, a ministry that helps felons turn their lives around and re-enter society.

Memphis Police Officer Joy Knowlton (center) acts out a personal story with fellow officers and ex-offenders from LifeLine to Success.

“In the Playback method, someone shares a reflection or observation or personal story. We have a team of actors and a musician, and we bring those stories to life on the spot using music and metaphor,” said Playback Memphis Director Virginia Murphy.

The group met for 10 weeks and shared personal stories from their lives. Playback Memphis members taught the participants how to use improv to act out those stories.

“We listened to ex-offenders tell stories of their childhoods, about growing up in difficult situations. And a lot of the officers had those very same stories, including myself, growing up in a home with domestic violence,” said Memphis Police Officer Joy Knowlton. “The only difference between us is some of us turned right and some of us turned left.”

In the end, friendships were formed, and any distrust between the two groups faded away.

“Our clients found a way to express themselves that they didn’t even know existed. It allowed them to remove a lot of stress and reveal some their experiences,” said LifeLine to Success Executive Director DeAndre Brown. “Doing that with police officers made it even better. We had those people who used to run from police, and to be able to meet with them every week on purpose was a big deal.”

The group of police officers and felons acted out some of their stories for the public in a performance in early December. But the work didn’t stop there. Murphy’s goal, in getting the two unlikely allies together, was to get them to assist in Playback’s plan to work with troubled youth in Frayser.

“We wanted to do a project where police and ex-offenders could come together, and if you could break down barriers and bring some healing and transformation between those two groups who we typically don’t think of as having harmonious relationships, they can go out and have an impact on young people,” Murphy said. “They will have a reach Playback wouldn’t have on its own.”

Playback runs an anti-bullying program called Be the Peace in area schools. And they hope to establish it in the Achievement School District in Frayser soon. When they do, the police officers and ex-offenders who participated in the fall session will join them in that work.

“We want to take the Playback model into the schools in our neighborhood to help children use conflict resolution skills,” Brown said. “We have identified a Frayser Success Zone around the elementary school across the street and the high school across the street.”

In addition to helping Frayser kids, Knowlton said she hopes the Playback model may eventually expand within the police department.

“This needs to be an experience for every officer. I would like to see the [Memphis police] training academy give officers a chance to see Playback to help officers touch back with their roots and remember why they chose this career,” Knowlton said. “For me, [Playback offered] a reminder of why I chose to be a police officer and give back to the community.”

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News The Fly-By

TV One Revisits Mistress Murder By MPD officer

On the morning of September 9, 2008, Casandra Malone watched as reporters announced Memphis’ latest homicide. An unidentified woman had been found fatally shot inside a blue Chevrolet Impala at an East Memphis gas station.

She never thought the woman would turn out to be her older sister, Phyllis Malone. She did, however, feel uncomfortable about Chancy Jones, the man her sister was dating before her death.

Chancy Jones

“I only saw him one time,” Casandra said. “When he shook my hand, I felt a cold chill go across my body. I said, ‘Something isn’t right about him.'”

A fatal fling between Jones and Phyllis was profiled in “Law and Murder,” Monday night’s episode of TV One’s docu-series Fatal Attraction. Marathon encore episodes of Fatal Attraction can be viewed Mondays from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m.

The night before her body was found, Phyllis met up with Jones, a three-year veteran of the Memphis Police Department at the time. He arranged for them to meet at a Whitten Road Shell gas station.

According to a court document, an argument ensued between the two about Phyllis’ alleged pregnancy and need for money. Jones wanted her to get an abortion but was reportedly unsure about funding it. Phyllis threatened to tell his wife about their affair.

When Phyllis, 31, said, “Bye, Chancy” and began to leave, Jones (37 at the time) shot her three times with a .38-caliber revolver, according to the document. A medical examination revealed that shots to the right side of her head and chest killed her. An autopsy revealed she wasn’t pregnant.

During his trial, Jones recanted his initial statement that he shot Phyllis after she threatened to tell his wife of their extramarital affair. Instead, he said he shot her after she threatened to run him over and revved her engine.

“According to the crime scene and the direction of the bullets, there wasn’t much verification for that story,” said state prosecutor Missy Branham.

Following the murder, Jones reportedly took Phyllis’ cell phone and threw it into the Mississippi River, along with his revolver.

The next day, he reported to work and was later questioned by investigators. During the interrogation, he admitted to murdering Phyllis and was arrested.

In 2010, Jones was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 24 years in prison without parole.

Branham pushed for a first-degree murder charge but was unsuccessful in proving Jones acted out of premeditation.

“He set up this meeting, and he went there to talk to her armed with a weapon,” Branham said. “And he seemed to have had her blocked in to where she couldn’t go anywhere. To me, that was premeditation. I do think he did knowingly and intentionally kill her to get rid of a potential scandal against him and his family.”

Jones, a father and husband, met Phyllis during a response to a domestic dispute call in July 2008. The two exchanged numbers and developed an intimate friendship before things turned fatal.

Phyllis was a mother of five. Her sister, Samantha, said her absence has had a profound impact on her children and family.

Samantha said she still misses the way Phyllis made her laugh.

“She was so funny,” Samantha reminisced. “I loved my sister. When you take somebody like that with five children and sisters and brothers and a father and mother that loved her, too. … She was a good person. She had a good heart. She loved her family.”

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Memphis Homicide Rate Increases in 2014

New Memphis Police Department data has revealed that 168 homicides occurred in 2014. This is 18 more than 2013’s amount of 150.

Only 24 of last year’s homicides were categorized as justifiable. Another 144 were concluded to have been committed with criminal intent.

According to MPD data, more than 80 percent of 2014’s homicides were committed with a firearm. Fifty-two reportedly stemmed from an argument that escalated into a physical altercation. And individuals who were acquainted with each other committed 86 of last year’s homicides.

The MPD’s Homicide Bureau was able to clear 77 percent of the homicides that occurred in 2014.

In 2013, Memphis had 150 homicides. Of this amount, 129 were concluded to be criminal and 21 justifiable.

According to the MPD, during the past six years, an average of 147 total homicides occurred in Memphis. In 2010, the city had an unusually low number of 112, the lowest rate since 1971.

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MPD, Jason’s Deli Hosting “Holiday Ham Giveaway”

The Memphis Police Department is collaborating with Jason’s Deli to provide families in need with free hams on Christmas Eve.

Poverty and hunger are both issues Memphis has battled with for years. In 2010, a Food Research Action Center study dubbed Memphis the “hunger capital of the United States.” And this year, a University of Memphis study ranked Memphis as the nation’s poorest major metropolitan area.

Considering the above-mentioned information, the MPD’s C.O.P. Unit, along with Jason’s Deli, will host a “Holiday Ham Giveaway.” The event will take place today at the MPD’s Airways Station (2234 Truitt).

Five hundred hams will be donated to disadvantaged families during the giveaway. The event starts at noon.

“Officers see firsthand how hunger and poverty touch many lives,” said MPD director Toney Armstrong. “This is just one of the countless ways we show those in need that we understand the struggles they face on a daily basis; and we are thankful for the generous donations from Jason’s Deli to help us in this endeavor of giving back to our community.”

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Memphis Rape Kit Fight Gets New Ally

Memphis law enforcement got a new national ally last week in its fight to clear the city’s backlog of untested rape kits while leaders here promised survivors they’d keep that fight alive.

Memphis Police Department (MPD) Deputy Chief Jim Harvey said last Thursday that the city still needs about $3.7 million to complete its rape kit testing project. 

The day before that, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced a new, $35 million fund to help cities like Memphis clear their backlogs. That fund will be the largest single donation to help clear the nation’s rape kit backlog, which the Department of Justice says includes more than 400,000 untested kits.  

The announcement from New York City came as a surprise to Memphis leaders even though Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance name-dropped Memphis in his national news conference announcing the fund.      

“What stands in the way of identifying the scope [of the untested rape kit backlog] across the country and then having local law enforcement testing them is, quite simply, money,” Vance said.  

The new funds come from money forfeited from national banks that violated U.S. sanctions in aiding rogue regimes across the world, Vance said, specifically pointing to Libya and Sudan.

Applications for the new funds will br available in the spring, and when they are, Memphis will be at the table, said Doug McGowen, director of the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team. Meanwhile, McGowen said the city will “leave no stone unturned” to find the resources to test the city’s rape kits. 

McGowen and Harvey both spoke last week in one of a series of events called “Sexual Assault Survivor Services: A Community Conversation.” 

The open meetings were mandated in an executive order by Memphis Mayor A C Wharton. He said during the meeting last week that rape is “a cancer that has to be wiped out.” He vowed to the small group gathered at First Baptist Church on Broad Avenue that he’d keep the process transparent.   

“If we find more, you’ll hear about them, as embarrassing as that may be,” Wharton said. “Hopefully, we’ve gotten all of them. But if not, and we find more, we’re not going to sweep it under the rug. We’re going to come right out and tell you that we found some more.”

Harvey likened the situation here to the Titanic. The Memphis media has portrayed it as a sinking ship, he said, but “we’ve sent the cameras down, and we’re pulling treasure out of the Titanic.” Clues are the treasures he said will lead his agency to arrest “hard-core criminals,” whose crimes likely go beyond rape.

“These are violent criminals,” he said. “It’s not about sex. It’s about violence.  So, if we can get one of these guys off the street, then we’ve stopped them from committing any number of other crimes.” 

Meanwhile, Congress is sitting on a $51.2 billion spending bill that includes $41 million for “a new community-based sexual assault response reform initiative.” Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) secured $5 million for the sexual assault program that appeared in versions of the bill that got approvals from House and Senate committees.   

The reform program would include funds for testing rape kits but also for the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault crimes, training law enforcement officers, and victim services. The program is intended to improve law enforcement’s response to sexual assault and services to victims.

A budget vote, which includes the rape kit funding, is one of several issues before the lame-duck Congress this week. The government faces another shutdown unless lawmakers can pass a budget or a stop-gap measure by December 11th.

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News The Fly-By

New Fund Established to Help Test City’s Rape Kits

Testing the thousands of backlogged rape kits that surfaced in Memphis last year is estimated to cost more than $6.5 million, and officials said this month that more than $3.7 million is still needed to reach that goal. 

The Memphis Police Department (MPD) and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) have funded the effort so far through direct support from the Memphis City Council, grants from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and a $750,000 challenge grant from the Plough Foundation that will be issued once the funding gap is closed.

But a curious new source of funds has emerged. A private, anonymous donor gave $10,000 to the effort this month. The anonymous donor parked those funds at the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis (CFGM). In doing so, the donor established the Sexual Assault Resource Fund, which is now open to anyone looking to help clear the rape kit backlog. 

“I think it’s really going to fill the gap,” said Sutton Mora Hayes, vice president of the CFGM. “It will help get additional testing that needs to be done, but it will also help the organizations that work with victims. It will help [the organizations] with training and capacity building.”

Hayes said, for example, the fund could be used to support hiring more victims’ counselors at the Shelby County Rape Crisis Center. Or it could be used, she said, for technical assistance, policy work, training law enforcement, or just processing more rape kits. The final decision on how the funds are used is up to a panel comprised of members from the Cross-Functional Team, which oversees the rape kit testing project.

Funds like this are not unusual to the CFGM, Hayes said. The foundation has worked with the city and county on several projects in the past, including the purchase of the land for the Shelby Farms Greenline. 

In related news, construction is set to begin next month on a new building to store rape kits and all DNA evidence for the MPD and the SCSO. 

Rape kits have been moved over the years from the old MPD headquarters at 128 Adams, to 201 Poplar, and then to the MPD’s property and evidence storage facility in the old International Harvester building. These moves were part of the confusion that led to the rape kit backlog.

The new space will be built at the Harvester location with the capacity to store about 60,000 kits. The facility will be climate-controlled and come with a price tag of about $1 million. Construction is estimated to take about four months.

Progress is being made in the situation with 222 investigations launched since the untested rape kits surfaced in May 2013. But fixing the problem will be anything but quick or cheap in the long run.  

Testing all of the kits could take up to five years, according to a report from the Cross-Functional Team. The one-time glut of cases into the system has created a glut of work for law enforcement and prosecutors. Both will need more employees (and more money to pay them) to conclude the project.

Rape kit backlog by the numbers:

• 12,374 total rape kits discovered 

• 6,722 not yet tested

• Nearly 5,000 of those kits collected before DNA testing existed

• 2,495 now being tested, majority at a private lab

• 222 investigations initiated based on testing

• 90 investigations remain active

• 132 investigations have been closed

• 20 individuals identified as being previously convicted

• 34 indictments issued

• 14 of those are suspects based on hits from the FBI’s Combined DNA Index (CODIS) System

• 20 suspects remain as John Doe, not identified

• 18 cases closed because victim or suspect has died

• 21 cases closed because victims have been contacted but did not want to participate in a further investigation

• 27 cases not caught before the statute of limitations expired

• 3 cases investigated did not meet the statute definitions of a crime

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Memphis Gaydar News

LGBTQ Police Liaison To Lead Spirituality Discussion

Davin Clemons

  • Davin Clemons

Davin Clemons, a Memphis Police officer who works on the TACT unit and serves as the LGBTQ liaison for department, also happens to be a motivational speaker, an ordained church elder, and the founder of Cathedral of Praise Church of Memphis, Inc.

He’s a member of Clergy Defending Rights for All, which worked with the Tennessee Equality Project to push the non-discrimination ordinance for city workers that passed two years ago. Through his role as police liaison, Clemons said he helps educate his fellow officers on cultural sensitivity.

On Tuesday, October 21st, Clemons will facilitate the monthly meeting of Spirituality Group at the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center (892 S. Cooper). Clemons will deliver a presentation titled “Your Gift Is Calling …”