Combining Memphis and Shelby County Police Services

Combining Memphis and Shelby County Police Services Janise S. Wicks Combining the police services in the City of Memphis and the County of Shelby would not be such a bad idea. Considering Memphis and Shelby County are already on to the road to become a metro government. This would one of the major sections of government that can seal the deal. Memphis police department and the Shelby county sheriff’s department work hand and hand as it is. One of the few differences is that Shelby County has districts that include Memphis but for the most part Memphis is limited to the city limits. Both departments are responsible for serving and protecting the same group of citizens. The county residents may live in the outside the city limits but they work and play often within the city limits. With that being said, it means that when they go to work and are a part of events within the city that it is the Memphis Police department that takes on the responsibility of keeping them safe. There may be a few county residents that do not enter the city limits but that is more than likely going to be due to old age or just the inability to get around. Over the last several years the county lines have gotten smaller anyway. The city has annexed many county neighborhoods which included county schools which are now city schools. The 911 system would be a whole lot better if they became a metro police department. That way there would be no more issues as to who should be dispatched to a call if it lies on the line of the city and the county. There have been delays in response time due to Memphis sending it to Shelby County and vice versa. Lives could be lost waiting on the other hand they could be saved if there was one dispatch center that routed out the calls. Memphis Police and Shelby county Sherriff’s office had a metro gang unit at one point. This unit worked together to target and attempt to get a handle on the gang problems. As we all know the gangs are not limited to the city or county. They cross lines and being able to work together to target these individuals and track them would be the logical thing to do. In 2004 the metro gang unit dissolved because the then Director of Police services for Memphis, Larry Godwin felt that he should have a team that focused more on the city. T 2006 DUI unit was dissolved in order to increase enforcement within the city limits. Again Larry Godwin wanted separate teams. After separating the DUI teams Godwin increased the number of Memphis police officers that were on the team. If they had stayed together the number of officers working could have been just as high. In actuality I believe that it should not be limited to Memphis and Shelby county police/sheriff but it should also include the other surrounding police departments within Shelby county. Now that the schools are consolidating which include all public schools in the county of Shelby. This will be big too because there are police officers and sheriff’s deputies assigned to many middle and high schools throughout the county. In Memphis the police officers along with Memphis City school security officers are in the schools and in the county there are Sheriff Deputies assigned to the schools. Instead of trying to figure out which department should be assigned to the different schools, a consolidated department would make it a whole lot easier. On the financial end it would probably save the city and county by consolidating the departments. That would also make it a more of a level ground as far as pay. It is interesting to know that though bout departments are responsible for protecting and serving the same group of citizens that the pay is different. I am for consolidating the Memphis police department with the Shelby county Sheriff’s department. Whether people agree with it or not I do believe it is coming. People fought tooth and nail to keep the schools form consolidating and now it is happening. Other than the school systems the police and fire services are the next major departments within government. It is time for a change. The separate departments will soon be of the past.