MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Shelby County Crime Commission board says it’s supporting proposed state legislation eliminating residency requirements for first responders as a way to expand the pool of qualified applicants.
This has been a hot-button issue in Memphis as city council members voted last summer to remove the issue from the November ballot. State Sen. Brian Kelsey filed Senate Bill 29 in January.
The crime commission members said under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t support the state pre-empting local decisions, but these are not normal times, and the number of police officers in Memphis is shrinking.
“We have been struggling for years to regrow our police compliment. We’ve actually shrunk. Even after all of our efforts we actually shrunk last year,” said Ben Adams, chairman of the commission. “Our officers don’t have time to do anything but react to calls. There’s no time for community policing or proactive policing, where you do the data driven policing and look for hot spots.”
Currently, Memphis police officers hired after 2011 must live within Shelby County, but police leaders have argued that’s hurting recruitment as they try to increase the number of officers.
The crime commission says the Memphis City Council set a goal for the department to reach 2,500 police officers. But the commission says at the end of 2020, the department only had a little more than 2,000 officers, falling short of the well short of the eventual goal.
Stats they provided showed the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office also is below their goal of deputies.
The crime commission also said looking back at past staffing numbers, there’s a correlation between staffing and the crime rate, citing 2011 when there was lower crime and more officers.
Local lawmakers have previously said removing the requirement would push the city back economically, demographically and bureaucratically.
“What we are fighting is mainly poverty and racial segregation and the soldiers that we need to fight that are not mercenaries hired from 50 miles outside the city,” City Council member Michalynn Easter-Thomas said.
The commission chairman acknowledged there couldn’t be as many recruiting classes due to COVID but they’re still a long way from their goals.
The commission said instead of residency requirements, smart recruiting appears to be the key to a diverse law enforcement agency.
