Council Hearings: Police Department

05/23/12 Police

Following behind Schools, which would get 42% of the mayor's 13% tax increase, police and fire and a 4% raise for metro employees are the next largest pieces of the tax increase pie. 

Let me be clear that I oppose a tax increase, however, if a council member just votes "no" on the Mayor's budget, that is really  a vote for the Mayor's budget.  Confused? Unless the Council passes an alternative budget, the Mayor's budget becomes law without any action by the council. The job of the Council, if they wish to defeat the Mayor's budget is to come up with an alternative budget. It is easy to say "I oppose a tax increase." It is more difficult to develop an alternative budget. 

If the police department does not get an increase as proposed by the Mayor, policemen will have to be laid off or a large amount of money will have to be shifted from the rest of Metro government to police. Why? Because a lot of policemen on the force are currently being paid with funds from a one-time stimulus grant from the Obama administration.  Also, if those policemen are not retained, the city may have to repay the grant. Also, without a tax increase or finding the money elsewhere, the new Madison police precinct can not be funded and the newly build crime lab will not be staffed.


Chief Steve Anderson makes the presentation and it is 50 minutes long. 

Chief Anderson starts his presentation by comparing Memphis to Nashville. Memphis with a population of about 60,000 more people has 2513 officers compared to 1373 Nashville officers, says chief Anderson. I know it is not polite to say such things, but Nashville is less Black than Memphis and less poor, so we have less propensity for crime. Nashville is only 27.6% Black and Memphis is 61.41% Black. I am discounting the comparison as irrelevant. 

Chief Anderson makes the case that the TBI cannot provide the level of DNA testing we need. Currently DNA  is only provided for personal crimes and with our own lab we can do DNA testing for property crimes and catch more people who commit burglaries. 


Council Tygerd ask about take-home vehicles. No one who lives out of county has take-home vehicles.With no increase in the budget, the police department would lose about 200 officers says Chief Anderson in response to a question by Council Member Megan Berry (18:24). When we have "special events" such as a visiting dignitary coming to town (VP Biden and First Lady Obama are recent examples not mentioned by name)  we bear  the full cost of the extra protection says Chief  Anderson in response to a question by Councilman Claiborn (31:30). Also, extra police necessary to provide services for events such as a Titans game are borne by the city not the Titans.


Councilman Bedne ask if the Police could take over the police function of the troubled Transportation Licensing Commission (34:58). Chief Anderson says the Police Department could do it but it would not result in any savings. Council Dominy (37:08) says he does not think anyone wants to cut the police staff. In response to a question by Dominy, Chief Anderson explains why police stops are part of the important process of policing.  Only 22% of the traffic stops result in a ticket. 


While I would not advocate massive cuts from the Mayor's proposal for the Police Department, I do not think the police should be exempt from some cuts. Who is to say that the proposed level of funding is the optimum funding level compatible with what we can afford?  Based on the type of questioning from this committee hearing, I do not think the Council has the appetite to take away any of the extra funding the Mayor has given the police. The Council should have asked tougher questions. They should not have let the Chief get off with his Memphis comparison without some counter arguments. This hearing was more of a love fest than an examination of a budget from people seeking cost savings.  If the Council is unwilling to cut Schools, police and fire, they cannot balance the budget with current revenues by nickle and diming the minor departments.

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