On this week’s WKNO/Channel 10 “Behind the Headlines," host Eric Barnes and Daily Memphian reporter Bill Dries spoke with Cardell Orrin, executive director of Stand for Children Tennessee, and Josh Spickler, executive director of Just City, about the ongoing presence of federal law enforcement agencies in Memphis. Both guests questioned the purpose, transparency, and long-term impact of the federal task force created to address crime in the city.
Spickler said there’s no clear accounting of arrests, or which agencies are responsible. “There is local data and then there is data that is given by the federal government about this. But, in terms of who is getting arrested and for what, no, there is not a comprehensive understanding of that, if it is even collected.”
Orrin added, “and the recent data dashboard that the city put out hasn’t clarified anything.”
Barnes noted that city data already showed crime trending down before the task force arrived. But some point to recent declines as proof the federal presence is working. Orrin disagreed. “There’s no evidence necessarily that they’re focused on violent criminals out there,” he said. “What we do know is crime was going down and already trending down as crime is nationally.”
Spickler shared that the arrests he’s reviewed do not support the idea that the operation targets violent offenders. “What’s happening on the streets of Memphis right now is not focused on violent crime,” he said. “This was never about violent crime. This was about a political power play and an occupation of a city that is predominantly Black.”
Continuing, Spickler said the operation focuses on minor traffic violations that lead to low-level drug and weapons charges. “They are pulling people over for failing to signal, for having a drive-out tag, for window tint, and then they are hunting for drugs and weapons,” he said.
Orrin compared the approach to stop-and-frisk policing, calling it “unconstitutional.” “It’s searching for crimes,” he said. “And then for most of these, these are pre-textual stops and low-level offenses that are just clogging up our justice system.”
Both guests expressed concern about the fear these tactics create. “There’s a different kind of tensing up, especially in this environment when you’re Black and brown and driving down the street,” Orrin said. “That is not the drama we want to create in our community.”
Spickler called the situation an “occupation,” saying it erodes basic freedoms. “The United States Constitution guarantees us to be free in our person, free in our property, free to walk down the street, free to drive down the street, without the interference of our government unnecessarily,” he said. “When those types of freedoms begin to be taken from us… where’s the bottom?”
When asked whether profiling data could be gathered, Spickler replied, “I mean, no.” He said any proof would require individual lawsuits and extensive research that most people lack resources to pursue. Orrin said local leaders should demand transparency, even if it requires filing federal records requests.
Both agreed that long-term safety depends on community investment, not militarization. “Our rate of crime going down here is about similar to national, and it is not as steep as some other cities that actually have been making investments,” Orrin said. “Investments in affordable housing, investments in violence prevention, community-based violence prevention… and people having access to jobs.”
Spickler agreed that good policing is essential, but said federal agents shouldn’t serve as local enforcers. “Of course, law enforcement is a part of this… but, of course, good policing is [a necessary] component of public safety,” he said.
As the discussion concluded, both Orrin and Spickler expressed a shared concern: the city’s journey toward safety cannot be rooted in fear. They believe that the true measure of the federal operation will not be the number of arrests or temporary declines in crime rates, but whether Memphis becomes a freer, fairer, safer, and more transparent city once the agents leave.
