Memphis legislator asks for AG opinion on MPD's still-existing pretextual stop policy
State Rep. John Gillespie is requesting the Tennessee attorney general provide an opinion on the Memphis Police Department's pretextual stop policy.
Gillespie, a Memphis Republican, sponsored a bill that banned municipal governments from forcing police departments to adopt policies that limit their ability to conduct traffic stops. That bill was signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee in late March.
"Unfortunately, it appears the Memphis Police Department is still enforcing its prohibition on pretextual traffic stops," Gillespie wrote in a press release. "I am calling on Memphis Police Department officials to reverse course by giving officers full authority to follow state and federal law."
The Memphis City Council in April 2023 passed a slate of police reform ordinances after Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black motorist, was pulled over and fatally beaten by Memphis police officers. One of those ordinances outlawed the police from pulling someone over purely for what were called secondary violations.
Gillespie's bill was slammed by advocates, and Nichols' parents, but passed without too much difficulty in the Republican-dominated General Assembly.
Those secondary violations included having registration that expired under 60 days prior; if a temporary tag is in the incorrect place, but clearly visible; if a license plate is not securely fastened to a vehicle, but is clearly visible; if a single brake light, headlight or running light is broken; and if the car is missing, or has a loosely fastened bumper.
An officer could add those violations to a ticket if someone were to be pulled over for a primary violation, like speeding or reckless driving.
Interim MPD Chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis had previously said, despite former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland claiming to never have enforced the ordinances, that she and MPD brass enforced them as internal policy since the ordinance's passing in April.
On May 20, The Commercial Appeal broke news that Davis did not sign off on a policy change until late January this year — two days after her title was changed to "interim chief." The policy did not go into effect until February.
In reporting that story, an MPD source — whom The CA is not naming due to fear of reprisal — said that the policy instituted is still in the manual, even after the ordinance was voided by a state law passed in March this year.
Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Gillespie asks TN AG for opinion on MPD pretextual stop policy
