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The Tennessee Conservative [By Olivia Lupia] –
Memphis has been struggling to maintain an adequate number of police officers for years, but now the force appears to be reaching a new low, with the city’s Police Association sounding the alarm on officer shortages amidst a surge in violence.
Per reporting from Fox 13, the city is seeing quite the streak of violent incidents. Over three dozen shootings were reported across Memphis the week following Easter, leaving more than 12 people dead including a pair of students killed just feet away from Booker T. Washington High School. On the Sunday night of the following week, the city saw its fifth mass shooting of the year, leaving four people injured and one dead.
Now, the Memphis Police Association (MPA) is saying the city has hit its lowest number of officers in 20 years, falling over 600 short of the department’s 2,500 officer goal. With only 1,899 officers employed, the MPA says the department is spread thin with the uptick in crime.
But despite the staffing shortages making it difficult to do anything beyond responding to calls, MPA Vice President John Covington reported that every shift is still being covered. “They were stretched thin, but they answered the call. But over time, you just can’t keep up that kind of grind on people,” he said.
He also believes there are several factors behind the shortage, including the city’s high call volume compared to other nearby agencies and the pay as the city did not include a raise for its officers in its most recent budget.
In terms of wages, Covington said the department is now behind the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Highway Patrol, Collierville PD, and Germantown PD, which is unlikely to entice new recruits. As data from the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission shows the city’s violent crime rate fluctuating with the number of police officers, with more officers resulting in less crime and vice versa, Covington believes that with more officers, the department would be far better equipped to prevent crime.
“We just have to do better and the answer, I think, is more officers,” Covington said. But some community advocates disagree, instead claiming that the answer is not more police, but “investing more in our communities” through improved education and job opportunities to deter people from moving toward violence.
It appears the city has been spiraling toward this low for years now, with reports from 2023 and 2024 both conveying falling officer recruitments and numbers. One report from the University of South Carolina attempted to attribute the death of Tyre Nichols to the previous years of staffing shortages, claiming that had the department not been understaffed perhaps the officers involved in the incident either may not have been assigned to the now-disbanded SCORPION unit or potentially not been hired at all.
The study also shows that overall, “Memphis Police Department’s number of sworn officers has dropped by 22.6% – from a high of 2,449 officers in September 2011 to a low of 1,895 officers in December 2022.” And it appears numbers have not risen far above the 2022 numbers since.
In November of 2024, Action News 5 corroborated these statistics when they reported the department only employed 1,950 officers, well below the year’s 2,200-2,300 officer goal, numbers that had not been seen in over a decade. Reportedly, the city hasn’t seen more than 2,200 officers on the force since 2014 and more than 2,000 officers since September of 2021.
Covington was advocating for a pay raise for officers and more aggressive recruiting, but the city clearly did not heed his advice. “Young people, I think less and less look at ideas of careers, they’re much more likely to switch jobs earlier than they used to, and of course, the police has been in the media and so forth, and there’s been some negativity about that, but also the nature of the job is so dangerous,” he said at the time.
Mayor Paul Young said, “We have seen far too much violence in our city. It’s been completely unacceptable. Heartbreaking to see young people losing their lives senselessly,” but did not comment if he had plans to support the department in its quest for more officers.
About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
