Image Credit: @FBIDirectorKash / X & Canva
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
FBI Director Kash Patel has announced that a violent crime task force is headed to Memphis, Tennessee. Patel called the city the “Homicide Capital of America” in an interview on FOX News on Sunday morning.
The move is welcomed by both Memphis Mayor Paul Young, and Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis-District 31).
Taylor introduced several pieces of legislation in the 2025 Tennessee General Assembly’s legislative session aimed at reducing crime across the state.
In a post on X, Taylor said that he sometimes feels alone in fighting to make the city safer, but with Patel’s focus on Memphis and the support of President Donald Trump’s administration, the city is poised for a “brighter future.”
Memphis has been struggling to maintain an adequate police force for years amidst the surge in violent crime in the city. Recently the city’s Police Association sounded the alarm on officer shortages.
According to the Memphis Police Association, the city has hit its lowest number of officers in two decades, falling over six hundred officers short of the department’s twenty-five hundred goal and as a result, the Memphis Police Department is spread thin.
In response to Patel’s announcement, Mayor Young issued a statement that welcomed extra resources to fight crime.
Referencing the city’s Fugitive Task Force, he said that Memphis is already seeing the results of targeted action to take fugitives off of the streets of the city and to disrupt gang activity.
Last month, the city responded to twenty-eight homicides in twenty-five days prompting Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis to call youth gun violence within the city, “catastrophic.”
Patel has said that fifteen hundred agents will be transferred from Washington D.C. to posts across the county, but Memphis is to be prioritized.
Memphis closed a field office for the FBI in the city last year and moved it to Nashville, but in light of Patel’s plan, there is a possibility it will be reopened.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
