Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the operation is "now underway" and nine arrests have been made.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Tuesday morning that “our operation in Memphis is now underway, and we’re just getting started,” saying that nine arrests had already been made and two “illegal guns” seized.

Bondi said 219 officers were “special deputized,” or granted federal law enforcement authority, and a “Joint Operation Center” had been set up. She thanked multiple agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Last week, the ACLU of Tennessee sent a letter to Young and Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis “demanding strict compliance” with the Kendrick Consent Decree, an agreement between the ACLU and the city dating back to 1978 that aims to protect the First Amendment rights of Memphis residents from interference by local authorities.

“Federal and National Guard involvement in local law enforcement doesn’t diminish these protections,” ACLU Tennessee Legal Director Stella Yarbrough said in reference to the decree. “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.”

The city of Memphis, meanwhile, launched a website where residents can log complaints and keep abreast of the presence of federal agents in the city.

  • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.worksOP
    14·
    2 days ago

    The History of the Memphis’ Kendrick Consent Decree

    As feds descend on Memphis, local advocates prepare to respond

    The Kendrick Consent decree was enacted in 1978 in response to revelations that Memphis police had used a domestic intelligence unit to surveille and target civil rights leaders. The decree was updated in 2020 to include safeguards against police use of modern surveillance technology.

    The agreement between the ACLU and Memphis specifically bars cooperation by Memphis police with federal and state agencies in activities that violate First Amendment rights, including sharing information such as photographs, recordings and social media posts of individuals engaged in lawful protests, absent a legitimate law enforcement reason, according to Stella Yarbrough, ACLU-TN Legal Director

    "The Kendrick Consent Decree represents nearly five decades of protection for Memphis residents’ First Amendment rights,” she said.

    • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
      2·
      2 days ago

      absent a legitimate law enforcement reason

      That’s what the feds are leaning on here; they’ve decreed that the reason is legitimate.