Memphis City Voted Along Racial Lines - Police

Well lets say, that the applicants have to have a clean record. Why not make it that only people with felonies will be disqualified but those who have had misdemeanors will not be disqualified. That's one.

$39,436.80

Paying for college is no biggie. Will they pay for all courses took or just law enforcement related?

For the area, starting pay is good. Like 38k a year plus great benefits.

That's a good starting pay.

They already do that.

Not bad. OK, its not pay.

As to the tattoos. I see many Jersey City cops with tats. Mostly the white cops.

Well it looks like you guys are fucked and all that is left is for Memphis to have a RACE WAR.

Of course it depends on the misdemeanor as well. It's not totally a free pass.

Arrested for a suspended driving license because you forgot to pay a ticket? Ok.

Arrested for having pot in your possession? Probably not ok. Unless it was a decade or more ago.

I agree.

However -- and I'm not saying this as someone who believes in this theory, because as I said I generally don't support residency requirements -- it very well could be that you have an even greater interest if you live in the city than you do just because you like police work and you want to serve and protect.

As I understand it from covering police and from going to a citizen police academy or two, it's a draining job and it can really lead people to become cynical (if they weren't already).

Balancing that out with a reminder that everyone in the city isn't a gangbanger or a wife beater or a pusher could do some good.

But do you think that someone living down the street from a cop takes some comfort from that fact or uses that cop as a resource for advice about the law? Do you think that even though they have no official jurisdiction the off-duty out-of-town cop doesn't use his training or knowledge to defuse situations unofficially, or to hold down the fort until on-duty, with jurisdiction officers can arrive?

You don't see off-duty out-of-jurisdiction police patrolling the streets, but they are armed and if they happen to encounter a crime in progress, I'm pretty sure that most will not just go "Too bad I have no jurisdiction here." They will intervene and sort things out later.

So there's a benefit in both emergency and non-emergency situations.

And moreover, it's not so much that Suburb A gets a benefit as City B retains all that within its boundaries

Depends on what part of the public you're talking about. There's no doubt that there's too many members of the public who disrespect the police, and there's plenty of people who wouldn't care one way or another if the cops were from a suburb or the city itself.

But I'm pretty sure that for some people it would mean something for the cops to have roots in their city.

They might not have the rule yet or those guys are grandfathered in.

Where I live they are cracking down hard on it. No tattoos can be exposed to public view.

I disagree. Its should be across the board. A nickle bag shouldn't stop someone from entering law enforcement. Look how many drunks get hired.

Hey Lt. Mewa, you know what might get more people to join the Memphis PD?

If, along with all those other perks you mention, they could live where they wanted to.

No, what's happening is people (white and black) are leaving Memphis in droves and moving to North Mississippi.

And when folks are moving from your town to North Mississippi, something is wrong.

I don't know...North Miss isn't that bad. Booming economy...can still work in Memphis...lower taxes ovarall. From what I understand, the only bad thing is all the former Memphians living there.

What guarantee is there that if they open up that area that applications to be a cop will just fly in?

Cops aren't dumb. They do know that already.

Your first sentence is stupid. No really it is. You're actually complaining that someone who live on the same street might use the cop as a resource?

With your second sentence you really need to pay attention to what's being written. I bolded the part you ignored of my post.

You know...I just realised that I was ignorant about the requirement. I thought you had to live within the city limits to be a city cop....but you don't. You have to live within Shelby County!

Hell, that makes it even more ridiculous. Blows the "community" thing right out of the water IMHO.

WRONG.

If you are a current drug user I don't want you with a badge nor I would suspect would the city you work for.

It's too easy for current users to get caught up in letting their dealer go, stealing drugs and money from criminals, and in general being corrupt.

Granted, "community" is somewhat a nebulous term and without knowing Memphis in particular, it could seem like a suburb and a rich part of Memphis have more in common than two parts of Memphis.

But lines have to be drawn somewhere. For instance, if someone from another state was literally parachuting into Memphis to do their work as a police officer, I would be against that regardless of qualifications. And if Memphis said "You have to live in a poor area of Memphis" I would be even more against residency requirements than I am now.

I think this is a reasonable restriction.

Can't blame them, but that's part of the job.

I don't know how severe the problem is of being able to recruit good officers, or what other options they have for solving it.

But I could see that a person might reasonably say that it is a good enough reason, especially combined with the notion of "If they're not willing to live in our city, we don't want them anyway."

The individual officer would generally have to tell them, but I suppose it could show some in their general knowledge of the area or what's going on. Being familiar with local joints or people, for instance.

Or as you've said, there's the possibility of seeing someone off-duty at the grocery store and such and recognizing them from when they were in uniform.

Of course, it's possible for Suburban Cop to know these things too, so it's mainly a good proxy.

Another thing, of course, is that the city publicizes its policy about how all police live within city limits.

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway, Memphis is only concerned with felonies.

Sheesh, dude. A guy caught with a few joints is not a big time junkie.

There is no guarantee. Much like there is no guarantee any of your suggestions would cause applications to fly in.

Point is, let people live where they want to live. In fact how can a city justify denying housing options to its employees? Not to mention that it's a big "screw you" to those underpaid folk who are trying to keep the peace, insure our freedoms and whatnot.

A guy with a few joints is someone who has no business being a cop. I'm not going to give an inch on this one. No person applying for a cop should be doing any drugs and if caught doing it while a law enforcement officer should result at minimum in losing your badge permanently not just in your state but the country.

That would make sense if the guy got caught a week before applying. But if it happened when he was 18 but is now applying at the age of 25, I see no problem.

Lots of young people get in trouble then change their ways. You know, learn their lesson.

Now I know why you posted this. You don't have the skill to keep up with your own thread.

"Arrested for having pot in your possession? Probably not ok. Unless it was a decade or more ago."



Sure if you are 25 and you got arrested at 18 they may let it slide. Then again they may not. Hence the PROBABLY.

Where I work they ask you if within the last three years have you used it. They also ask if you have ever used it.

Your odds of getting the job start slipping at that point if you have.

Well, one thing to keep in mind is that Memphis is a little unusual, in that it's a fairly major city that has one state right on it's southern border and another right on it's western border. You can literally drive from downtown Memphis, to Mississippi in less than ten minutes, and to Arkansas in less than five. That's even closer than the eastern part of Memphis, which is a 15 or 20 minute drive in light traffic.

Olive Branch, Mississippi, and West Memphis, Arkansas, for all intents and purposes, are suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee. Hell, I bet at least 1/3 of the people where I work live in North Miss.

What about medical marijuana? I know a few folks who have a doctor's note to purchase weed. Are you really willing to discriminate against people who use prescription medicine?

In TN there is no medical marijuana.