Memphis task force using TN “buffer law,” preventing up-close recording of police activity

Two men wearing a U.S. Marshal and FBI vest as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Hunter Demster pulled out his phone at a gas station in Memphis to record over half a dozen men in bulletproof vests gathered around the flashing blue lights of a Tennessee Highway Patrol car. 

Then one of those officers stepped forward and told him to stand 25 feet away because he was violating a new Tennessee law that allows police to create a buffer zone for any of their interactions, according to video reviewed by the Lookout.

“They are explicitly trying to remove accountability for police across the state,” said Demster, a leader with the group Free the 901, a coalition of advocacy groups organizing against federal and state law enforcement’s presence in Memphis.

At the end of September, President Donald Trump and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee established the “Memphis Safe Task Force” that brought in an additional 700 law enforcement officers, according to a report by the Daily Memphian. The task force includes a combination of federal and state agencies, like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the ATF, the FBI, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the state National Guard and more.

The heightened presence of enforcement comes with little detail from officials about the task force’s exact orders and their operational areas.

In an executive order issued by Trump on Sept. 15, the president said the objective of the task was to “end street and violent crime in Memphis to the greatest possible extent,” adding they would accomplish this through “hypervigilant policing, aggressive prosecution, complex investigations, financial enforcement, and large-scale saturation of besieged neighborhoods with law enforcement personnel.”

National Guard members were seen patrolling a popular commercial area after arriving in Memphis on Friday and there have been reports of an increase in immigration raids and stop-and-frisk policing.

What is the buffer law?

In 2025, Tennessee lawmakers passed the buffer law, allowing law enforcement officers engaged in official duties at a traffic stop, crime scene or “an ongoing and immediate threat to public safety” to create the 25-foot zone even if the person in question doesn’t pose a safety risk or is not obstructing law enforcement.

Anyone in violation of the law can be charged with a misdemeanor. 

The Tennessee law is similar to those passed in Indiana and Louisiana, which two federal courts have ruled unconstitutional due to the laws’ vague nature in allowing police broad discretion to create buffer zones. 

Both states are appealing the decisions. 

In Tennessee, seven news organizations filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the law grants law enforcement officers limitless authority to bar journalists and the public from reporting on protests and other newsworthy events. The Lookout is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Demster has been told at least three times by law enforcement working with the Memphis Safe Task Force that he must remain at least 25 feet away from police interactions, according to videos reviewed by the Lookout.

“The second I walked up with a camera, that’s the first words out of their mouths,” he said.

The Lookout reached out to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, but officials with the department had not responded by the time of publication.