Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis said the department has been asking for more federal help for several years. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht for Tennessee Lookout)
Tennessee National Guard troops will be deputized as part of an “accelerated” crime-fighting effort set to start next week in Memphis but will not make arrests or carry weapons unless requested by police, Gov. Bill Lee said Friday.
“Information from the police department … on what support they need will determine and drive whether or not a particular National Guardsman is armed,” he said.
The governor announced the state will direct $100 million toward a state, federal and local partnership to crack down on crime. Some 300 Tennessee Highway Patrol officers will be assigned to the city along with an undetermined number of Guard personnel and more than a dozen federal agencies, including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The anti-crime task force will operate “as long as it takes” to make Memphians feel safe to go to a Grizzlies basketball game at the FedEx Forum or Beale Street without fear of being a victim of crime, the governor said.
Even though Lee told reporters a month ago that National Guard deployment wasn’t being considered, he said planning for the operation with Mayor Paul Young and the Trump administration has been taking place for months.
I know there are a lot of questions in our community. There’s a lot of feelings, passionate emotions, whether you’re for it or against it. But as the leader of our city, my goal is to make sure that as resources come into our community, we find ways to use them effectively and for the benefit of the residents of our great city.
– Memphis Mayor Paul Young
National Guard troops are to be deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service, which will oversee the operation, and will play a support role as a “force multiplier,” Lee said. He did not detail the tasks they would take up.
“Never before has a city in the country had access to these resources,” Lee said.
The crime-fighting effort is necessary, he said, to boost economic recruitment and to give relief to residents such as a mother who described to him the loss of her son to street violence.
The governor didn’t declare a state of emergency activating the National Guard but authorized the deployment at the request of the federal government. President Donald Trump recently signed a memorandum directing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to approve the plan and use of Guard troops.
Asked about the potential for friction between troops and neighborhood residents, Lee said people will understand the support role troops will play when they see them “on the ground.”
Young said he wants to sustain gains made in cutting crime such as a 13% reduction in overall crime in 2024, a 19% cut in violent crime and 29% reduction in murders, followed by similar figures in 2025.
“I know there are a lot of questions in our community. There’s a lot of feelings, passionate emotions, whether you’re for it or against it. But as the leader of our city, my goal is to make sure that as resources come into our community, we find ways to use them effectively and for the benefit of the residents of our great city,” Young said.
Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis said the department has been asking for more federal help for several years and added that she wants to make sure “Memphians know the work being done is on their behalf.”
State lawmakers who represent inner-city Memphis have criticized the plan to deploy National Guard troops there.
Talks with FBI Director Kash Patel started this spring, and initially the FBI was to lead the effort in Memphis.
“It was never off the table that the National Guard would be used. But it wasn’t the plan at the time … that this would develop,” Lee said.
As talks unfolded with the Trump administration, the option for federal funding to bring in the National Guard and federal agencies to back local law enforcement made it “evident” that the plan should be put into place, Lee said.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX