Black Residents Report Being Harassed by Memphis Safe Task Force — ProPublica

When Reggie Williams turned 18 twenty years in the past, his mom entrusted him along with his delivery certificates. Hold it on you always, she suggested, in case you encounter police.

On a latest afternoon, he had a duplicate in his pockets, alongside along with his state ID, as he walked from his uptown condominium in Memphis, Tennessee, to a close-by nook retailer.

A Memphis Police Division cruiser pulled up, and two officers questioned him: The place was he coming from? The place was he going?

Williams responded, and the interrogation continued: Did he have any weapons on him? No. Any medication? No. When requested to empty his pockets, the 39-year-old artist turned over his pockets and cellphone.

Minutes later, 4 males poured out of an unmarked SUV with tinted home windows. They carried rifles and wore physique armor — however no figuring out badges.

He considered his household. “Deep down, I felt like I used to be not gonna make it dwelling,” stated Williams, who’s Black.

The Oct. 15 incident occurred about two weeks after the Nationwide Guard and 30 different native, state and federal companies descended upon Memphis as a part of President Donald Trump’s order authorizing “hypervigilant policing” to finish violent crime. Along with focusing on violent criminals, the operation dubbed “Memphis Safe Task Force” has ensnared harmless residents of this majority-Black metropolis.

Amongst those that have reported being harassed: a ride-share driver stopped for not carrying a seat belt regardless of having one on as she drove a passenger to the airport; a pastor pulled over for trying misplaced as she left a church gathering; and, in a case of mistaken id, a 72-year-old man roused from mattress and marched out of his condominium whereas clad in solely his gown and underwear.

None of those individuals had been in the end ticketed or arrested. However they advised MLK50: Justice By Journalism and ProPublica that they feared for his or her security throughout what they described as indiscriminate and intimidating police encounters. Whereas not one of the legislation enforcement companies concerned responded to particular questions on these residents’ experiences, the information organizations corroborated their accounts utilizing contemporaneous textual content messages and social media posts, in addition to interviews with neighbors and relations.

“I actually consider that if I didn’t have that delivery certificates, I’d be someplace in a facility,” stated Williams, recalling one of many armed federal brokers approaching him aggressively to ask if he was from Ethiopia or Ghana. “For those who’re not white, we’re simply all going to be focused.”

When the Memphis police returned Williams’ pockets, the officer cautioned him: Don’t do something dangerous and maintain your ID on you. That warning, stated Williams, who posted concerning the cease on Fb, echoes a slavery-era requirement that free African People carry “freedom papers,” official court docket paperwork to show they weren’t enslaved lest they be returned to bondage by slave patrols or legislation enforcement.

The U.S. Marshals Service, which leads the duty pressure, didn’t reply to particular questions on Williams’ expertise however disputed accounts of Black residents being harassed.

“The suggestion that our federal legislation enforcement officers are racially profiling residents just isn’t based in actuality and undermines the credibility and security of the Process Drive Officers who ought to be recommended for the distinctive work they’re doing to maintain this group secure!” Ryan Guay, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service, stated in a written assertion.

“The Memphis Protected Process Drive stays centered on its mission to make Memphis safer by eradicating violent offenders from our streets,” he stated.

The Memphis Police Division didn’t reply to requests for remark about Williams’ encounter.

The U.S. Marshals Service advised MLK50 and ProPublica that the duty pressure doesn’t observe the variety of stops legislation enforcement companies have made since they surged into town or what number of of these stops resulted in citations or arrests. Nor does it observe the racial demographics of the individuals stopped or arrested, a spokesperson stated.

With spotty information, the duty pressure’s operations stay opaque, making it troublesome to seize a whole image of its work. MLK50 obtained an Oct. 13 task force summary of its first two weeks of exercise displaying greater than 1,500 personnel — slightly below half of whom are metropolis and county legislation enforcement — on the bottom, making 854 arrests and issuing 4,160 site visitors citations. An MLK50 analysis of at some point’s price of arrest information obtained by the information group discovered that just about three quarters of the 51 individuals arrested Oct. 13 weren’t charged with a violent crime.

The duty pressure stated it has made 1,744 arrests as of Oct. 29, although it didn’t specify what number of of these had been associated to violent crimes.

Democratic mayors and governors have vocally resisted Trump’s transfer to deploy the navy towards residents of Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, Oregon. In Memphis, Mayor Paul Younger has stated he opposes the deployment of the Nationwide Guard however has tried to forged the federal insurgence as a chance to strengthen the Memphis Police Division’s crime-fighting efforts. Memphis, which has a history of aggressive policing, reported a record high of 428 homicides in 2023, however crime general had dipped to a 25-year-low earlier this yr.

“Earlier than the federal activity pressure got here to Memphis, we had been already making strides to deliver violent crime down,” Younger, a Democrat, stated in an announcement. “We’re pushing for the federal activity pressure to stay centered on violent crime.”

Free the 901, a marketing campaign supported by greater than 20 group organizations, hosts weekly press conferences to share how the deployment is affecting residents and has joined protests to oppose the militarization of town. At one demonstration, a Black Hawk helicopter circled overhead, reviving concerns that legislation enforcement was surveilling residents engaged in actions protected by the First Modification.

Throughout town, residents have reported a sample: Tennessee Freeway Patrol initiates a site visitors cease, then federal brokers roll in.

That’s what occurred to Alandria London, a ride-share driver, as she was taking a passenger to the airport on Oct. 8. Cautious of the heavy police presence within the space, she stated she drove further cautiously. A Tennessee Freeway Patrol trooper on a bike pulled her over anyway.

As quickly because the officer approached the automotive he stated, “Oh, I didn’t see your seat belt,” London recalled. He advised her he wanted to “name it in,” then let her go with out asking for her driver’s license. She stated a white van with “Immigration” written on the facet pulled up behind the motorbike; she suspected the officer had stopped her after mistaking her ethnicity.

“I do suppose that I used to be profiled. I feel they had been in search of somebody of Hispanic descent,” stated London, who’s Black and posted about her expertise on Fb that afternoon together with a photograph of herself carrying a seat belt. “After this incident, I might see why individuals ought to keep dwelling, to remain out of the road of fireplace and transfer good.”

Neither the Tennessee Freeway Patrol nor Immigration and Customs Enforcement responded to questions on London’s expertise.

Regardless of the duty pressure’s said give attention to violent crime, a fifth of arrests made within the first two weeks had been associated to immigration, information obtained by MLK50 exhibits. Brady McCarron, a U.S. Marshals Service spokesperson, wouldn’t give an up to date variety of immigration-related arrests however responded in an electronic mail that “whereas all of the work accomplished by the Process Drive is essential, we stay centered on the violent crime inside the Metropolis of Memphis.”

Group organizers say many Hispanic residents are altering their each day patterns for worry of being detained: Sufferers are skipping medical doctors’ appointments, and fogeys are holding their children home from school. Previous to the duty pressure, Vecindarios 901, an immigrant useful resource group, sometimes logged about 15 calls and messages a day reporting legislation enforcement sightings to its hotline. The group says it now logs round 120 per day.

To organize residents for the inflow of police, group organizations shared on social media a list of best practices: Keep away from making eye contact with legislation enforcement, don’t argue in public and avoid extremely patrolled areas. Memphians appeared to heed the final warning, prompting town’s tourism company to encourage people to return to downtown eating places, museums and different companies.

Showing in Memphis on Oct. 1 to launch the duty pressure, U.S. homeland safety adviser Stephen Miller advised a whole lot of legislation enforcement officers gathered earlier than him that they were “unleashed.”

“{The handcuffs} that you simply’re carrying, they’re not on you anymore. They’re on the criminals,” Miller bellowed as he stood in an East Memphis warehouse, flanked by Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth and U.S. Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi. “No matter you want to get it completed, we’re gonna get it completed.”

Miller’s feedback alarmed many residents and group organizers, particularly coming shortly after the final two Memphis cops concerned within the deadly beating of Tyré Nichols, an unarmed Black man, in a 2023 site visitors cease had been released on bail. (The boys had been acquitted on state costs associated to the loss of life however are nonetheless dealing with federal prosecution.) The previous officers had been a part of a special unit centered on violent crime that was disbanded after Nichols’ loss of life.

A subsequent U.S. Department of Justice investigation discovered that Memphis police have a sample of escalating encounters involving low-level offenses, utilizing unjustified pressure, and making unconstitutional stops and illegal arrests. Memphis police treated Black residents more harshly than white ones engaged in comparable conduct, the Justice Division stated. Trump’s Division of Justice withdrew the report and closed the investigation, characterizing Biden-era scrutiny of civil rights violations by legislation enforcement as a “failed experiment of handcuffing native leaders and police departments.”

After Nichols’ loss of life, the Memphis Metropolis Council banned the police from stopping drivers for minor infractions like damaged taillights to seek for extra critical violations, however Tennessee’s Republican-led legislature passed a bill final yr that undid the city ordinance. Now, those self same kinds of site visitors stops, known as pretextual stops, have change into a serious a part of the duty pressure’s actions in Memphis, in response to MLK50 and ProPublica’s evaluate of greater than three dozen affidavits of individuals arrested as a part of activity pressure operations.

ELaura James Reid, pastor of Coleman Chapel CME Church, stated she was pulled over by a person driving an unmarked SUV with a matte military inexperienced end as she was leaving her denomination’s unity summit at an East Memphis lodge on Oct. 10. She’d seen a automotive prefer it within the lodge car parking zone with a Nationwide Guard license plate on the again.

The person, carrying camouflage fatigues, approached James Reid’s window and advised her he stopped her as a result of she seemed misplaced.

James Reid, 49 and a lifelong Memphian, had been to the lodge many instances earlier than, together with for annual ecumenical conferences. When she knowledgeable the person she was not misplaced, he stated she seemed like she was “driving uncertain.”

James Reid didn’t know what that meant. She’d stopped on the cease signal. And she or he’d signaled her left flip.

The person requested for her license, however James Reid, a former schoolteacher who’s acquainted with the Nationwide Guard’s position in pure disasters, stated she had a query for him first: Was it regular for Nationwide Guard members to ask for residents’ licenses once they go to cities to assist individuals? In response, she stated, he advised her to have a pleasant day and to be secure.

Kealy Moriarty, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Nationwide Guard, didn’t reply to particular questions concerning the incident, together with  what “driving uncertain” appears to be like like, however stated it isn’t conducting site visitors stops. The navy department is “supporting the U.S. Marshals Service and a number of native, state, and federal legislation enforcement companies as a part of the Memphis Protected Process Drive,” Moriarty stated. “Tennessee Guardsmen and ladies are at present aiding with duties comparable to group security patrols, web site safety, and site visitors management in help of ongoing efforts to cut back crime and promote public security in Memphis.”

Residents interviewed for this text stated it was at instances unclear which companies’ officers had been stopping them. Throughout town, reporters have witnessed officers patrolling with out badges or uniforms that establish their companies.

When legislation enforcement officers don’t establish their companies whereas making stops, residents can’t demand accountability, civil rights advocates say. “That is far more than a police operation,” stated Josh Spickler, government director of Simply Metropolis, a neighborhood prison justice reform group. “It is a energy seize and a speedy erosion of your civil liberties.”

James Reid, who spoke concerning the incident to members of her congregation, stated her expertise counters the duty pressure’s said mission of focusing on violent crimes.

“I don’t really feel secure,” stated James Reid, who’s Black. “It matches into the narrative of holding us in our place. I don’t suppose it matches the narrative of stopping violent criminals, until you driving down the road is taken into account violent.”

To decrease crime for good, governments should put money into violence interruption applications, public training and entry to psychological well being care — not simply policing, stated James Reid and a number of other Democratic state legislators and native politicians.

Some Memphis residents residing in high-crime neighborhoods stated they welcome the elevated policing to make their communities safer.

“It’s good they’re right here. Visitors is lots lighter, and hopefully issues will get higher,” stated Ann Morris, a 61-year-old bartender. Morris, who’s Black, stated she hopes it is going to function a “wake-up name” to the younger males within the metropolis.

Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee, a Republican who welcomed the federal intervention, has said that whereas “the surge will diminish sooner or later,” the duty pressure’s operations and collaboration between organizations “will final ceaselessly.” Lee’s spokesperson didn’t reply to a request for remark.

“In the event that they’re not a prison aspect, then they shouldn’t be afraid,” Lee stated on the Oct. 14 information convention.

However staying out of bother doesn’t shield residents from nerve-racking police encounters.

Simply days after the duty pressure was deployed to Memphis, Phillip Lewis was woke up by loud knocks and the doorbell. The 72-year-old yelled for whoever was on the door to carry on as he put a gown over his underwear and walked slowly throughout his South Memphis condominium. Most cancers has taken the 6-foot-6-inch-tall former highschool basketball standout from 185 kilos in his prime to 123 kilos.

“Are you Slim?” requested one of many two armed officers standing exterior his second ground condominium, the place Lewis’ full identify is printed neatly beneath the doorbell.

The officer didn’t say which company he was with, Lewis stated, however his uniform stated HSI — Homeland Safety Investigations. (Safety digicam footage reviewed by MLK50 and ProPublica confirmed an officer figuring out himself to the owner as a U.S. marshal.)

“I assumed they was ICE,” Lewis stated.

One of many officers grabbed his arm, and the opposite advised Lewis to stroll down the steps and sit on the underside step. A 3rd officer confirmed Lewis {a photograph} on his cellphone of a intercourse offender the officers had been in search of. “I stated, ‘That ain’t none of me.’”

They then requested Lewis for identification. “How I bought ID and I’m in my drawers?” Lewis snapped.

They took him again to his condominium for his pockets, and an officer pulled out Lewis’ state ID. He was not the person they had been in search of.

If officers had requested for his ID earlier, Lewis stated, they’d have acknowledged their mistake, and he would have been spared the indignity of being questioned by police in his nightclothes in entrance of his neighbors. MLK50 and ProPublica reviewed Lewis’ notes made after the Oct. 2 incident in addition to textual content exchanges along with his sister concerning the encounter, and interviewed his sister, a neighbor and his landlord.

The Division of Homeland Safety, which oversees Homeland Safety Investigations, didn’t reply to questions on Lewis’ expertise. Neither did the U.S. Marshals Service.

Because the officers left with out an apology, one provided a fist bump. However Lewis was indignant. “I stated, ‘Y’all completed pissed me off with all this bull, and y’all don’t even know who you’re in search of!’”