In recent months, Memphis residents have been told — by federal officials and echoed by local leadership — that the city is safer.
Crime statistics are cited. Task forces are announced. Press conferences are held. Yet for many Memphians, especially those who live in over-policed neighborhoods, these assurances ring hollow — not because reform is impossible, but because accountability remains largely unproven.
Nearly a year ago, Mayor Paul Young announced the formation of a task force focused on policing and public safety. Since then, there has not been a single comprehensive, public-facing document outlining that task force’s findings, recommendations, or implementation outcomes. No clear timeline. No benchmarks. No explanation of what has changed as a result of its work. This silence echoes the skepticism many residents already feel toward initiatives like the Memphis Safe Task Force — initiatives that promise reform but rarely show their work.
This is not merely a matter of political theater or messaging. It is a question of political leadership.
The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Pattern and Practice Investigation into the Memphis Police Department (MPD) documented serious and, in some cases, unlawful conduct by officers. The findings were not abstract. They were specific. They detailed patterns of excessive force, unconstitutional practices, and systemic failures that demanded more than acknowledgment. They demanded consequences.
Yet to this day, there is no publicly identifiable officer city leadership can point to as having been disciplined, terminated, or otherwise held accountable as a result of reforms implemented in response to the DOJ’s findings. If accountability has occurred, the public has not seen evidence. And accountability that cannot be demonstrated cannot be trusted.
It is important to be clear: This critique is not rooted in a belief that Mayor Young is incapable of political courage. In fact, the opposite is true. The mayor has demonstrated fortitude and resolve on other contentious matters. He has stood firm amid criticism surrounding major development projects, including xAI. He has asserted his authority decisively when he believed boards were operating inadequately, as seen in his intervention with the Memphis Area Transit Authority board. In those instances, whether we agree with his actions or not, the mayor showed a willingness to confront dysfunction directly and publicly.
That is precisely why the absence of comparable leadership on police reform is so troubling.
When it comes to policing, the mayor’s office has not exhibited the same level of urgency, transparency, or political courage. Nor has Police Chief C.J. Davis offered the public a clear accounting of how DOJ findings have translated into concrete disciplinary actions or structural reforms within MPD. Leadership that expects trust must be willing to demonstrate accountability, especially in an institution with a long history of harming the communities it claims to protect.
Compounding this failure is the role of the Memphis City Council. The council possesses oversight authority, approving budgets, receiving briefings, and having the power to demand documentation, timelines, and measurable outcomes. Yet far too often, members have functioned as a passive audience rather than an active check. When legislative bodies fail to insist on evidence, executive silence becomes normalized. Oversight deferred is accountability denied.
This is not a call for spectacle or public shaming. It is a call for governance. Police reform cannot be reduced to dashboards, talking points, or selective statistics. It requires public documentation, clear standards, and demonstrable consequences for misconduct. Anything less erodes trust and deepens the very crises of legitimacy city leaders claim they are addressing.
If Memphis leadership is serious about reform, it must answer a basic question: What, if anything, has the mayor’s task force actually produced? The absence of any public findings or recommendations suggests that reform has been reduced to performance rather than practice.
In the meantime, the city’s dismissal of the DOJ’s report as “meaningless” has left thousands of residents — already subjected to pretextual and racially disproportionate traffic stops — exposed to the very forms of police misconduct reform was supposed to address. This is not public safety. It is punitive populism masquerading as policing, operating without transparency, accountability, or meaningful oversight.
Memphis does not need more assurances that it is safer. It needs evidence that leadership is willing to govern with transparency, courage, and integrity — especially when it comes to policing. Political courage has been shown in other arenas. It is far past time to show it here, too.
This piece was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
Rev. Earle J. Fisher, Ph.D., holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from LeMoyne-Owen College, a Master of Divinity Degree from Memphis Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Memphis. Pastor Earle is the Senior Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee – The Blackest Church in Memphis and Shelby County. He’s also the founder of #UPTheVote901, a nonpartisan voter empowerment initiative committed to producing political power and increasing voter turnout in Memphis and Shelby County. Dr. Fisher is married to Denise Lloyd-Fisher, has one son Jalen Fisher, and one granddaughter Karter Ann “Lil Mama” Fisher.