MEMPHIS, Tenn. — From drugs to gangs, officers in Organized Crime handle it all.
Thursday’s shooting of OCU Officer Robert Armour was a danger that’s all to real for the officers who work undercover or plain clothes.
Officer Armour was doing what OCU officers do everyday – he went into the unknown.
“What we have is a complaint team. Our citizens call in and feel like there is a house in the neighborhood that has drug activity or gang activity. He was following up on a complaint like that,” says Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong.
Those complaints can turn dangerous or even deadly very quickly.
One of the most high-profile tragedies for OCU was in December 2012 when Officer Mortoiya Lang, who was assigned to OCU, was shot and killed serving a narcotics search warrant in Berclair.
It came on the heels of another OCU shooting that happened just a month earlier.
Officer Willie Bryant was accidentally shot in the back by his partner and attacked by a dog while also trying to serve a warrant.
All of this as top brass at the Memphis Police Department looked for ways to restructure OCU making it more efficient and focusing on keeping it as safe as possible for officers who fight some of the toughest criminals.
“This is a reminder of just how dangerous this job is. Just a reminder of how unpredictable this job is,” said Armstrong.
