The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee demanded free speech protections for citizens in Memphis as the Memphis Safe Task Force prepares to deploy National Guard troops and federal law enforcement officials here.
In a letter Thursday, the ACLU-TN demanded Memphis Mayor Paul Young and Memphis Police Department Chief C.J. Davis to adhere to the Kendrick Consent Decree.
In place in Memphis since 1978, the court order restricts MPD from illegally spying on citizens of the city. It protects protesters, community organizers, and political organizers from surveillance unless there is evidence of criminal activity.
ACLU-TN warned the presence of state and federal agents in Memphis could weaken adherence to the decree.
“Federal and National Guard involvement in local law enforcement doesn’t diminish these protections,” ACLU-TN legal director Stella Yarbrough said in a statement. “In fact, it makes strict compliance more critical than ever. Memphis police cannot use federal coordination as a backdoor to conduct the very surveillance activities this decree was designed to prevent.”
President Donald Trump’s memo that created the task force here calls for agents to coordinate with local law enforcement through “hypervigilant policing” and “large-scale saturation” of neighborhoods. The ACLU-TN letter warns this could create “multiple pathways for operational and agency confusion and potential violations” of the consent decree.
The letter warns that MPD is specifically prohibited from:
• Sharing “First Amendment-related intelligence” about activists or protesters with federal agencies without parallel criminal investigations
• Coordinating surveillance of political demonstrations or lawful gatherings with National Guard units
• Providing federal forces access to city surveillance systems for political intelligence gathering
• Bypassing required authorization procedures for investigations that may collect information about constitutional activities
“Memphians have constitutional rights that don’t disappear when federal agents come to town,” ACLU-TN executive director Miriam Nemeth said in a statement. “The Kendrick Consent Decree exists precisely because of Memphis’ troubling history of surveilling civil rights activists and political organizers. We will not allow that dark chapter to repeat itself under the guise of federal cooperation.”