Tag: TBI

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Race and Ethnicity Biases Account For Majority of Hate Crimes In Tennessee

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

New data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shows that the majority of the hate crimes in Tennessee from 2022 were on the basis of race and ethnicity. The report also found that most of these crimes targeted Black people.

The FBI said that the data comes from voluntary reporting to the organization through the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Out of 413 participating Tennessee law enforcement agencies, 399 of them submitted data. 

A hate crime is defined by the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program as “a committed criminal offense which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias(es) against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.”

“Hate crimes are often committed based on differences in personal characteristics such as appearance, language, nationality or religion,” said the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). “The key element of any hate crime is the presence of a bias motivation. The criminal act alone does not define a hate crime; rather the investigation of the crime must conclude that the offender was bias-motivated.”

Out of the 94 reported crimes. 43 were considered “Anti-Black or African American.” The second highest category were “Anti-White” crimes, with 10 being reported.

The first year that hate crimes were reported entirely through the NIBRS was in 2021. According to data from that year, most of Tennessee’s crimes were motivated by race and ethnicity, accounting for 91 (61.9 percent) incidents.

The FBI also notes that since crime is a “sociological phenomenon influenced by a variety of factors,” and that there are differing levels of participation over time, they discourage using data as a way to measure law enforcement effectiveness.

Nationally, there were 11, 643 hate crime incidents reported in 2022. The report also notes that only 14,660 law enforcement agencies participated in crime reporting, out of more than 18,800 nation-wide. The Southern Poverty Law Center notes that this is the “fifth consecutive year of declining participation.”

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News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Polar Bears, a Geenline Van, and Those TBI Alerts 

Posted to Nextdoor by V&E Greenline

Memphis on the internet.

Tweet of the Week

“Zoos are really insane as hell. Ain’t no way a polar bear supposed to be in Memphis, Tennessee,” tweeted @galeonsworld last week.

Van Life

Last week three people stole a minivan and attempted to drive it across the V&E Greenline bridge. 

They didn’t make it far. The bridge is fine, Greenline officials said on Nextdoor last week. But the handrail is not. Damage from a collision with the van will likely cost $5,000, they said.  

“Unfortunately, while this particular incident is unusual, we have seen more and more motorized vehicles using the trail for criminal and recreational purposes,” Greenline officials said.

Posted to Twitter by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation

“No One Easy Answer”

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) apologized for the many alerts that buzzed the phones of Tennesseans at all hours last week. 

“We know it’s been a frustrating morning for many of you,” the TBI tweeted. “Same here, TBH.”

Why? “There is no one easy answer,” the TBI said in a statement. The agency doesn’t send the alerts, a partner does. The alerts also vary across cell providers, change with movements across the state, change with powering a phone on and off, signal strength, wifi availability, and more.

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TBI Report: 31 Killed by Police Deadly Force in 2021

Photo by Michael Förtsch on Unsplash

Those killed by Tennessee police last year were mainly white, male, armed, from 25 to 34 years old, and used a firearm against an officer or someone else to resist arrest. 

Those are the main takeaways from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s (TBI) annual report on law enforcement-related deaths in Tennessee.  

The profile above is that of someone who has had an interaction with law enforcement usually after someone called the cops. Last year, 31 people in that group were killed by police by use of deadly force, according to the report. October was the deadliest month with seven killed. 

View this gallery for more information on those killed by police here last year:

Credit: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation

Other deaths in the report are related to those who died in jail or prison. These deaths may have occurred in the presence of police but were not directly related to use of force by them.

Last year, 245 died in 31 correctional facilities, according to the report. Thirty two of those died while in custody but had not yet been convicted of a crime. Private prisons do not have to submit data for the report. 

View this gallery for more information on those who died in custody last year:

Credit: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
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Public Safety Institute Finds Rise in Gun Crime and Need for More Support in Shelby County Mental Health Court

Earlier in the week, the University of Memphis Public Safety Institute (PSI) released information regarding increases in reported gun crimes and their evaluation of the Shelby County Mental Health Court (MHC).

Based on data released from the Memphis Police Department (MPD) and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), the number of reported gun crimes have increased in Memphis, specifically between the months of April and June.

In their findings, the MPD reported that during the first quarter of the year, January to March, reported violent incidents involving guns were down slightly compared to the first quarter of 2019. Despite this, reported violent incidents involving guns were up 11.2 percent for the first half of the year, January to June. During this period, almost 64 percent of all reported violent crime incidents involved guns.

Though the TBI uses different metrics to identify reported incidents involving guns — what could be considered as one incident by the MPD can be considered multiple incidents under TBI definition — their figures showed a similar increase during the April to June period. The TBI reported that by the end of the first half of the year reported offenses involving guns had increased by almost 23 percent.

The PSI partnered with the Shelby County Mental Health Court to evaluate the effectiveness of the court in preventing rearrests and reincarcerations, ensuring that lengths of incarceration were similar to those not accepted for participation in the MHC, and if time in the MHC affected lengths of hospitalizations.

Between 2016 and 2019, 247 individuals were referred to the MHC a total of 368 times, with 170 (61 percent) being invited to participate, and 156 accepted. The average risk assessment score — the “score” which determines whether someone is considered too dangerous to release — for those invited to participate in the court was high.

The MHC employs a mental health treatment plan that is designed to help those accepted into the court received reduced or dismissed sentences. Despite only 48 (30.8 percent) of the 156 graduating from the MHC’s treatment program, when surveyed the MHC staff and presiding judge, indicated that they had positive feelings about the MHC teamwork-oriented approach.

The PSI’s full report and findings can be found here.

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UPDATE: TBI’s Manhunt for Prison Escapee Continues

CREDIT: TBI

TBI

Gov. Bill Lee asks for public’s help at press conference

UPDATE: The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) has issued warrants for the West Tennessee inmate who escaped Wednesday and is still at large.

Curtis Watson, who has been added to TBI’s Most Wanted List, is being charged with first degree murder, especially aggravated burglary, and aggravated sexual battery.

Officials are offering a $52,000 reward for anyone with information that helps lead to Watson’s apprehension, arrest, and conviction.

TBI director David Rausch said Thursday that Watson “could be anywhere. We need Tennesseans, as well as partners in surrounding states, to be vigilant.”



TBI

Curtis Ray Watson

ORIGINAL POST: A day after Curtis Watson, a “dangerous fugitive” and person of interest in the homicide of a Tennessee correctional officer, escaped from a West Tennessee prison, law enforcement officials are still searching for him and asking the public to remain vigilant.

Watson, an inmate at the West Tennessee State Penitentiary in Henning, Tennessee, which is about 50 miles northeast of Memphis, is suspected to have played a role in the homicide of West Tennessee Correctional Administrator Debra Johnson, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) said Wednesday.

After Johnson was found dead in her residence at the penitentiary shortly before noon on Wednesday, a manhunt ensued for Watson when prison officials found him missing from his work detail as a farm laborer.

Officials believe there was foul play involved in the death of Johnson. TBI director David Rausch said Wednesday that special agents and forensic scientists would work through the night investigating the crime scene.

TBI also asked that the public remain vigilant: “If you see Watson, call 911. Do not approach. Stay vigilant!”

There have been “numerous” reports of sightings of Watson across the state, TBI tweeted Thursday morning, but there haven’t been any confirmed sightings. 

UPDATE: TBI’s Manhunt for Prison Escapee Continues

Watson is currently in the sixth year of a 15-year sentence for aggravated assault, according to the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC). Watson was previously convicted of aggravated child abuse. His sentence for that expired in 2011.

TBI issued a Blue Alert Wednesday afternoon after Watson was found missing. The Blue Alert system, established in 2011, is reserved for alerting the public of violent criminals who kill or seriously injure law enforcement officers in the line of duty. The alerts are also used to aid in locating missing officers when foul play is involved.

The system is similar to AMBER Alerts. The Blue Alert for Watson was only the third since TBI began issuing them, according to the Bureau.

Before Watson, the most recent Blue Alert was issued in May 2018 for Steven Wiggins, who was a suspect in the fatal shooting of a Dickson County Sheriff’s Officer deputy.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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Hernando DA Says Webber Was Suspect in Shooting, Robbery

CREDIT: Facebook

Facebook

Officials say the 21-year-old man who was shot and killed by U.S. Marshal officers Wednesday in Frayser was wanted for shooting and robbing a man in Hernando, Mississippi earlier this month.

Hernando District Attorney John Champion said Thursday afternoon that Brandon Webber met the victim in Hernando on June 3rd to purchase a car from him, which he’d seen advertised on Facebook. After test driving the car, Webber “cold-bloodily” shot the victim five times before fleeing in the red Infiniti, Champion said.

The victim, who is still in the hospital, later identified Webber as the shooter. Because Webber, a Memphis resident, lived out of the Hernando Police Department’s jurisdiction and was a “violent fugitive,” Champion the said U.S. Marshals Service Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force was employed to arrest him.

Webber was charged with aggravated assault, armed robbery, and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Champion adds that the task force was advised of the “serious nature of the charges that we had here, so obviously when they were up in Memphis looking for him, they were very aware of his propensity for violence.”

“The Marshals were dealing with a violent suspect, no doubt about it,” Champion said. “You just have to look at everything. I just wish that people would sit back and just see what happened.”

Champion said there is a second suspect that police believe to be involved in the shooting. A warrant for his arrest has been issued.

The preliminary report from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations (TBI) stated that Webber was approached by the officers Wednesday night around 7 p.m outside of his home in Frayser.

TBI officials said in a Thursday statement that Webber “rammed his vehicle into the officers’ vehicles multiple times before exiting with a weapon. The officers fired striking and killing the individual. No officers were injured.”

The statement continued: “This remains an active and ongoing investigation, as TBI Special Agents and forensic scientists continue to work to gather any and all relevant interviews and evidence. As in any case, TBI’s investigative findings will be shared with the District Attorney General throughout the process for her review.

As is our policy, the TBI does not identify the officers involved in these types of incidents and instead refers questions of that nature to their respective department.

Any updates on this investigation will be posted online at TBINewsroom.com.”

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TBI: Investigating All Officer Shootings Here Could Stretch Resources


Representatives from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations (TBI) told a Memphis City 

Council committee Tuesday that the agency is concerned about the amount of personnel it would require to investigate all officer-involved shootings in Shelby County.

Jimmy Musice, attorney and policy adviser for TBI said the bureau has limited resources and that other small Tennessee counties could lose some of those resources if TBI investigated all officer-involved shootings here.

“It’s difficult to be tasked with something we may not have the appropriate resources to do,” Musice said.

Musice said historically TBI has investigated the majority of officer-involved shooting cases in rural counties, as they typically don’t have the resources to investigate independently.

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It wasn’t until after the 2014 shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri that the state’s four large counties — Shelby, Knox, Davidson, and Hamilton — began asking TBI to step in, Musice said.

Of the 70 officer-involved shootings that TBI said took place between 2013 and 2018 in Shelby County, the bureau has only been asked to investigated 15 incidents.

Councilman Martavious Jones asked how much of TBI’s resources would be strained if the policy only applied to Davidson and Shelby Counties and added that because Tennessee’s four big counties are the largest contributors to the state’s budget, some of that money should go back to Shelby County for these investigations.

“The only contention I make is why not give us a return on our investment,” Jones said. “We send all of this money to Nashville for it to be dispersed throughout the 94 counties. I don’t think it’s too much to ask.”

However, Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich, Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr., and Memphis Police Department Director Michael Rallings all agreed that the policy that is in place now is working. The policy, or memo of understanding (MOU), now only requires that TBI be asked to step in to investigate officer-involved shootings that result in death.

“We’re trying to be as transparent as possible,” Bonner said. “We want people to know that all law enforcement officers in this area are doing the right thing. Nobody’s trying to hide anything.”

Rallings added that no one ever talks about the law, which he said is very simple: “An officer can use deadly force to protect themselves when threatened with deadly force or a third party is.”

“If that’s applicable to the situation, then that shooting is probably going to be ruled justified,” Rallings said. “It’s not pretty. It’s never pretty when an officer uses deadly force, but it’s necessary.”

Still, Rallings said officer-involved shootings have not been an issue in Memphis, despite the high number of violent crimes.

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Without the support of the aforementioned officials, Councilman Worth Morgan said it would be bad policy to support the move.

“I don’t see any way we can support this without having our experts who are sitting right in front of us in agreement with it,” Morgan said. “I don’t think that’s good policy or government. They have my full confidence unless somebody can show me real evidence that proves otherwise.”

Rep. G.A. Hardaway disagreed with the officials and Morgan, saying that the MOU is just the starting point. The MOU is open to interpretation and not does include any repercussions for not adhering to it, he said.

“It’s not about what the state is willing to spend for public safety, but about what the people of Shelby County and Memphis deserve,” Hardaway said.


TBI has access to funds that local agencies don’t, Hardaway added. “The bottom line is that the state has the resources.”

“That’s what your legislators from this area are charged with,” Hardaway said. “We go to Nashville and put in place public policy to get the appropriations to serve our community.”

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Hardaway also said that it’s not that TBI can’t conduct the investigations because “they’re already doing it for somebody else who isn’t paying their full part.”

“What will it [the legislation] do again?” Hardaway said. “It will deliver truth and justice by collecting the facts in a timely fashion with objectivity.”

The council didn’t vote on a resolution Tuesday, but Councilman Edmund Ford Jr., whose resignation from the council and transition to the Shelby County Commission becomes effective on November 25th, said he “would like to see this body act.”


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Letter From The Editor Opinion

Protesting the Protestors

As a journalist, my first instinct is always to wait for all the facts to emerge before passing judgment on incidents such as the one that occurred last week, where Memphis police officers shot and critically wounded Martavious Banks after a routine traffic stop. But this officer shooting does not look good. Cops don’t turn off their body and dash cameras unless they’re trying to hide something. If officers are following protocal and doing the right thing, they want the evidence to validate their actions. The officers — still not identified as of this writing, a week later — were relieved of duty and the TBI was called in to investigate the incident.

In the immediate aftermath, angry relatives and friends of the victim were joined by other protesters and took to the streets, chanting “F—k the police!” among other epithets. Some protesters lay on the pavement and got arrested. Emotions ran high. Video coverage of the event was widely available from several local news outlets.

The following day, Commercial Appeal 9:01 columnist Ryan Poe stirred the pot, though he may not have intended to: “Standing on the parkway in the clammy Memphis heat, the protest felt familiar,” he wrote. “The faces were mostly the same. After well-known activist Keedran Franklin and Shelby County Young Democrats Human Rights Coalition chairwoman Theryn C. Bond yelled in officers’ faces, officers barricaded the parkway and closed Airways. Activists and officers dutifully took up their positions on either side of the barricades. They’d done this before.”

Poe’s column drew heat the following day from the likes of Wendi C. Thomas, Rev. Earle Fisher, and others who pointed out that Poe lacked standing to second-guess the protestors since, as a white person, he’d never had to experience the kind of incident Banks’ family, friends, and supporters were dealing with. Poe held his ground, tweeting: “There’s too much hate and too few solutions at some of the recent protests in Memphis. It’s time to put anger to work.”

I get where Thomas, Fisher, and the others were coming from. I’m a white guy, with all the attendant privilege that comes with that in America today, so I can’t viscerally understand the rage and frustration of Banks’ family and supporters, and I wouldn’t criticize it. The protesters were angry because this incident seemed to be following the usual pattern: The cops involved weren’t identified. The case was being investigated by the TBI — essentially other law enforcement officers — and no information was being released to the public.

Two years ago in Memphis, Darrius Stewart suffered a similar fate at a seemingly routine police stop. Three years before that, Steven Askew was shot 22 times in the back in his own car when awakened by two Memphis police officers who claimed they saw Askew reach for a gun. I was personally acquainted with the Askew family, and I witnessed the rage, the frustration, and the tears — and the saddest funeral I’ve ever attended. Those cops got away with murder, in my opinion. The city paid a settlement to the family, but it’s little solace when your son is taken from you.

So, I don’t blame relatives, friends, and local activists for expressing their rage. These protests aren’t meant to shape national policy; they’re meant to show the MPD and city leaders that people are woke, and that their actions in handling this case had better be aboveboard.

But protesting is situational, which may be what Poe was trying to get at. If, for example, Colin Kaepernick had started screaming “F—k the police” when the national anthem began playing instead of kneeling, do you think his movement would have gotten anywhere? Do you think athletes all around the country would have followed his lead? Do you think that Nike would have lent its corporate clout to his movement? Kaepernick’s aim wasn’t to indict a particular police department; it was to raise awareness of the issue on a national scale. Taking a knee was simple, powerful, and effective.

The truth is, Kaepernick and the Memphis activists who hit the streets last week are after the same goal: stopping the shootings of young black men by police. One protest was local and targeted at MPD; the other is national and targeted at all of us. We should pay attention to both.

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City Council Raises Questions About Banks’ Shooting, Body Cams

A representative with the Memphis Police Department (MPD) said Tuesday that the three 

officers involved in last week’s shooting of Martavious Banks either had malfunctioning cameras or they switched them off.

Deputy Director James Ryall told a Memphis City Council committee that before each shift, officers are supposed to test their body cameras to ensure they are functioning properly, and if not, then they are required to swap it for a camera that works.

Council member Jamita Swearengen said this means that officers should never be on duty with cameras that aren’t working, but Ryall said a fight or tussle could have occurred, switching the cameras off before the Banks’ shooting. This situation “could be the outlier,” he said.

Still, Swearengen said both the body cameras and the car dash cameras of all three officers shouldn’t have been malfunctioning at the same time.

Chairman Berlin Boyd agreed, saying that it seems unlikely for multiple officers to have equipment that didn’t work.

“I’m just curious as to what transpired,” Boyd asked. “What could have happened? I could see if it was one officer, but I can’t see how it would happen to several officers. That’s kind of puzzling to me that all of the officers cameras weren’t working.”

Boyd said the city spent nearly $7 million dollars on cameras and $4.5 million for video storage in order to move toward transparency.

“Let me speak from the banker’s perspective,” Boyd said. “We gave you guys taxpayers’ dollars and if the system is malfunctioning, we need to have a real hard, robust discussion.”

Boyd suggested that MPD might need to implement a system that doesn’t allow officers to control their own cameras. Instead, the cameras would remain on throughout the officers’ shifts.

To date, MPD reports that 53 incidents of officers turning off their cameras have occured since the system was instituted about two years ago. Answering a question posed by several council members, Ryall said the disciplinary actions for those officers can range from a verbal warning to termination, depending on the situation.

Swearengen raised the question of why the department’s policy allows officers under investigation to be paid. Ryall said there was a due process that must take place, and that before any infraction is discovered officers “get the benefit of the doubt.”

Councilwoman Patrice Robinson echoed Swearengen’s sentiment, saying that there needs to be a policy in place that involves disciplinary actions toward officers during the investigation.

This discussion followed Councilman Edmund Ford’s introduction of a resolution requiring the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to immediately investigate all serious injuries resulting from an officer-involved shooting and not just fatal shootings.

The legislation would be a joint resolution of the council and Shelby County Commission. Commissioner Tami Sawyer, who was present at the meeting, said the legislation would “make sure that justice and equality exists in our policies” and that “investigations are handled with swift justice.”

Ford said the legislation should be drafted when the council meets again in two weeks.

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Strickland Asks For Trust On Banks’ Shooting

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said he “completely backs” Memphis Police Department (MPD) director Michael Rallings’ decision to involve the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) in the investigation of Martavious Banks’ shooting.

Strickland said at a Friday press conference that the administration is pledging its full cooperation with the investigation into the officer-involved shooting of Banks.

“The notion that cameras were turned off before the shooting is disturbing to me,” Strickland said. “It’s unacceptable, inexcusable, and it will not be tolerated.”

While TBI is investigation the shooting itself, MPD is leading an internal investigation on the violation of the body-camera policy.

Typically, TBI will only step in when an officer-involved shooting is fatal. But when MPD realized there was a violation of department body-camera policy, Strickland said it was the right call to turn the investigation over to TBI.

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At this point, Strickland said it is still unclear whether the officers never had their cameras on or if they were turned off. When asked if this was the result of a lack of officer training, Strickland said it’s not, but rather a lack of following the policy. He said the department needs to “double down” to ensure all of the policies are being followed.

The names of the officers involved have not been released yet. Strickland said releasing the names is now up to TBI and that he can’t give a detailed description of them as it might interfere with the bureau’s investigation. However, Strickland did said they “weren’t seasoned” and were “relatively new” officers.

Strickland said the community should “trust this full, honest investigation that’s going to go on both at MPD and the TBI.”

“We will get to the bottom of this,” Strickland said. “I’m directing our entire city hall staff and all of our resources to get the answers to the questions that we all have.”

Moving forward, some city officials want TBI to investigate all officer-involved shootings, not just the ones that result in death. Memphis City Councilman and Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr., along with Commissioner Tami Sawyer, announced Wednesday that they would introduce a joint resolution asking TBI to respond immediately to officer-involved shootings that are both fatal and non-fatal.

Ford said people shouldn’t have to die in order for a thorough investigation to take place.

“I get tired of hearing about officer shootings locally and nationally,” Ford said. “Hopefully, the joint legislation will be one step of many to get justice for those who end up in this situation.”

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Ford said he will present the resolution to the council on Tuesday, September 25th along with a list of questions for law enforcement, such as what the disciplinary measures are for an officer who turned off their body camera.

“I hope my colleagues will unanimously support this legislation,” Ford said. “I hope it’s not a polarizing issue. Any issue like this should be investigated and justice should be served.”

Mayor Strickland said he is “totally open” to the legislation, but that the TBI would have to be invited into that conversation in order to make sure they have the resources to be able to do that.

In a statement released Thursday, council member Patrice Robinson said she believes “we need to allow the system to work.”

Here’s her full statement:

“It is an unfortunate situation and my heart goes out to Martavious Banks’ mother and family. I pray that Martavious heals quickly.

I am personally watching this process and at this point, I believe we need to allow the system to work. We will review the contract with the Memphis Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation as well as the Memphis Police Association’s Memorandum of Understanding as it relates to disciplinary actions.

As representatives of the citizens of Memphis, it is our responsibility to ensure the fair and adequate treatment of all Memphians.

It is my desire that the citizens of Memphis will be patient and show concern for one another by forming more neighborhood watch groups and resolving to support one another by demanding respectful actions by all.”

Councilman Kemp Conrad said in a statement Friday that the officers’ actions were “inexcusable,” but that he trust the administration to handle the investigation.


Here is his full statement:


“First, I want to say that my thoughts are with the family of Martavious Banks. Words can’t describe the horrific nature of this incident. I hope that he makes a full recovery.


While I support the men and women in blue, it is inexcusable that three officers directly involved did not have cameras turned on during this incident. I recognize that officers have a tough job and incidents like this make it even harder, which is why I am a long-time supporter of this tool of transparency. They protect our officers and the citizens of Memphis.


Furthermore, I support the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigating officer-involved shootings in the City of Memphis.


I have full faith that our Mayor and his administration will handle this investigation efficiently, swiftly, fairly, and with the utmost care.”