Memphis Tennessee..

[GrayW4442]

We are in the middle of CALEA also. I'm not sure if its good or bad.

[Drunkcop]

Memphis Metro

The pays scales, retirement and everything you mentioned would be a huge cluster to sort out, and you know as well as I do there could never be agreement in any negotiations between the city and county governments. Not only that, it would be a cold day in Hell before the county residents would approve that as long as WW is mayor. They'd have to raise pay scales to equity which would cost so much it would require another tax increase...No, I'm sure we'll be wearing different colors for the forseeable future.

I know they were trying to merge Traffic about a year ago. That would have been the easiest since DUI is already metro, but that didn't even work out.

As far as Luttrell goes, I agree he's a virtual lock for re-election. I personally like him, but I've heard a lot of deputies who also think he will give them up. That may have come from a few incidents in the past couple of years where deputies have been fired. He's got a low threshold for unprofessionalism and they're doing that CALEA thing as well.

I think the major behind the scenes asset is Oldham. He seems to still remember the times he was on the street and what Luttrell lacks in street experience Oldham is supplying. So far, no complaints from me. I am not timid and I get into stuff. I try to follow the rules and so far I haven't heard a word from downtown even thought there were a few times I expected it. My partner and I had to deliver a pair of major 'behavioral control sessions' at Tom Lee park during May in front of all those civilians. There had to have been some complaints but they told us we did it right and that was the end of it.

So far, we are still allowed and encouraged to enforce the law. Of course that can change tomorrow. We shall see.

[The Don]

I saw on Memphis Wreg-TV channel 3 about a report about City's Dept Heads and their alloment for Vehicles that cost the Taxpayers of the City $48,800 dollars a Month,Know wonder Memphis needs to raise property taxes to pay for all those Vehicles,Insurance,Maintanence,And that ever rising Gasoline,WTH is going on in the Bluff City,And oh yeah about a couple of months back in the Memphis Police Dept,High Ranking Officer's were forced to take a demontion or forced to Retire

[GrayW4442]

I havent heard they were looking for officers. And whats the pay like?

[The Colonel(44)]

Why don't all of you LEO working in Memphis and Shelby County try moving up the interstate I40 to Jackson, and Lexington,Tn We are in need of Officers with metro LE experience.Jackson&lexington are growing fast,at least consider it!

[Chopshopcop]

I agree 110% and you brought up some good issues if were to happen. Actually, I dont think we will ever go metro given the current political climate. I'm just waiting for the state legislature to ban all residency requirements and I'm taking my family to Tipton county. I know there are other ways to live there now which are options I am considering.

I'm with ya brother, that's why I moved out of the city 10 years ago. Soon as I can, I'm out of the county. My wife is also an officer and has to do a few more years than me. When I can leave, she'll still have about 3 left. Hopefully, I can start building my "vacation home" in Fayette pretty soon.

Don't hold your breath on lifting residency requirements either. The legislature is not inclined to allow it since it means less tax revenue for Shelby. It would also affect every other town in TN. The TN Municipal League will fight it tooth and nail. Remember how they shot down the "toy town" law a few years ago and prevented the creation of a new county. The developers here have a very powerful lobby in Nashville too, and they have just about every Shelby County politician on their side. Zoning and building laws are looser here so they have no incentive to see people leave for Tipton or Fayette.

[ftlaudcop]

your state senator's and rep's i am sure can enact special
law's for shelby county just like they did in....


jacksonville fl
broward county
miami-dade county
brevard county
alachua county

broward probably took over more police dept's in 20 yrs
and their contracts to take over spell out what happens in the cities

more than likely it will be civil service, and the sheriff will concentrate his
duties on law enforcement rather than politics.

our non-cop sheriff is not a good example, he's got his troubles
now-a days's from " i'm the boss; your a peon" attitude "

[GrayW4442]

I don't see us going metro any time soon.

I agree 110% and you brought up some good issues if were to happen. Actually, I dont think we will ever go metro given the current political climate. I'm just waiting for the state legislature to ban all residency requirements and I'm taking my family to Tipton county. I know there are other ways to live there now which are options I am considering.

[Chopshopcop]

Yea the entire city is in Shelby County. Honestly, there's not much left of the actual "County" Memphis has taken up most but you have several other smaller cities. There has been un-official talk of going Metro which I would absoloutly love if the SO took over the city PD.

And yes our jail is so full that they dont know what to do with 'em all.

There's a few details to be ironed out before we go metro. Who's gonna be responsible for law enforcement, the PD or SO? Those in favor of a metro gov. point to Nashville and say look at them, their PD is the primary LE agency, the SO just does civil stuff. While that's true, they fail to note that while state law states that the chief LE authority in a TN county is the sheriff, the people of Nashville voted to have it different. This vote also took place in 1963 if I'm not mistaken, when there were a lot fewer laws regarding merging of city/county gov.'s.

What about salaries? Will your pay stay the same, increase or decrease? Retirement, can you still retire after 25 or will you have to stay longer? Admittedly, I know very little about the county pay scales and retirement plans, maybe Drunkcop can share some insight here.

Will your pension be grandfathered in? What about mine, I have over 18 yrs in. What about the DROP plan? Any contracts with the MPA will be null and void and we could lose shift differential, college incentive, binding arbitration, seniority bidding, and everything else. It's my understanding that in TN., employees of the sheriff's dept. serve at the will of the sheriff, your job could be on the line with every election. (Drunkcop, can you clarify this too?) Would we keep civil service protections?

As an SO employee, you could be taken off the streets and reassigned to the jails. There's nothing this Sheriff would like better than to replace all of the deputy jailers (not that I'd blame him on most of them). But would you rather work the streets or the jail knowing what you know about the Shelby County jail? They just came out out from under federal sanctions under Luttrell (which has pretty much insured his job at the next election), but would his successor do as good a job? Talk to some of the deputies and ask their opinion of him. He's a great administrator no doubt and he has experience in Corrections, but at heart he's a bean-counter. According to many dep.'s I spoke with, he'll sacrifice them in an instant, at least that's their perception of him.

Most of all, the entire county has to approve a metro gov. and the city must surrender their charter. Neither is likely to happen since the city council will certainly not give up and vote themselves out of a job. And when has the entire county ever agreed on anything around here? Even if all of that happened, the merger must still be approved by the state legislature, so now you have senators that will be looking for jobs. The whole county would have to have their districts redrawn and approved. Yeah, that's gonna happen. We can't even get rid of three county commissioners whose terms are about to expire. 81% of the county voted in 1996 to set term limits for them but they are using taxpayer money to fund their lawsuit claiming that a popular vote of the people is unconstitutional. Just think what it'll be like when city council, city school board, and all the various city employees, unions, city boards, representatives and senators get on board with their lawsuits.

I don't see us going metro any time soon.

[KingB]

Memphis is a hell hole. I was there 18 years and hated just about every minute of it. The crime was bad when I left 5 years ago. I can't imagine how much worse it has probably gotten.

Is Germantown or Cordova and surrounding communities still relatively safe? I had a friend that was on the PD in Germantown when I left. He loved it there. You guys should transfer to Bismarck, ND. Thats where I will be in a few months to start school.

[Matto]

is the entire city of memphis in shelby county...???

i'd imagine the local cross-bar hotel is also over crowed as well...??


miami-dade county, thats like like a 3rd world country their

to many elected julio's, raul's thinkin the way to run county

or city gov is the same way they did it in their homeland.

just glad when the thugs, gangsters, gold toothed idiots show

up on my side of the border, their *** is going to jail and no breaks..!

Wow.. thats pretty depressing man. I want to get into LE in a couple years in Texas, hopefully it's not a similar occurance.

[GrayW4442]

Yea the entire city is in Shelby County. Honestly, there's not much left of the actual "County" Memphis has taken up most but you have several other smaller cities. There has been un-official talk of going Metro which I would absoloutly love if the SO took over the city PD.

And yes our jail is so full that they dont know what to do with 'em all.

[ftlaudcop]

is the entire city of memphis in shelby county...???

i'd imagine the local cross-bar hotel is also over crowed as well...??


miami-dade county, thats like like a 3rd world country their

to many elected julio's, raul's thinkin the way to run county

or city gov is the same way they did it in their homeland.

just glad when the thugs, gangsters, gold toothed idiots show

up on my side of the border, their *** is going to jail and no breaks..!

[GrayW4442]

F*** the Mayor. I wouldnt **** on him if he was on fire. When I make the scene of a call and they start bitching about how long it took me to get there I just tell them, "I work for the Mayor, call him and complain." They just roll their eyes and say nevermind. It works everytime

[Drunkcop]

Gotta chime in. I am a deputy but work a metro unit and work with a lot of MPD officers. They speak the truth. You do your job, you get in trouble. It starts at the very top and rolls downhill. The sad thing is, there are a LOT of Memphis cops who would love to do some good policing, if they just wouldn't get chopped for doing it. The story about the last Police Director is gospel truth. He stood up for some officers who had done the right thing, and he lost his job over it. The Memphis mayor is fond of saying the MPD is 'his police force'.