Memphis Safe Task Force is active in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Safe Task Force, ordered by President Trump to address crime in the city, is on the ground and preparing to move into the community, sources tell News Channel Three.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers were spotted on Mullins Station Road near Farm Road at Shelby Farms late this afternoon. WREG saw Shelby Sheriff’s Deputies, Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, and Tennessee Highway Patrol.

WREG has learned that it was an operational briefing, which included local and federal officers, as well as White House representatives.

On Friday, Governor Bill Lee announced that a task force comprising 13 agencies, including the National Guard and 300 additional troopers, would be deployed to Memphis as early as Monday.

He says the Tennessee National Guard will serve a critical support role to local law enforcement as a “force multiplier” alongside the Memphis Police Department and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. He says this is a long-term strategy and will occur in phases over the next weeks and months.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris told WREG on Monday that Governor Bill Lee is going against the Constitution by deploying the National Guard.

“The Constitution requires an action by the State Assembly before the National Guard can be deployed. It requires a rebellion, and so none of those things have taken place,” Mayor Lee Harris said. “And so we’re trying to figure out how, legally, any of it is happening.”

Mayor Harris says he will gladly work with the ATF, DEA, and THP, “but the National Guard’s just against the Tennessee Constitution.”