MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee demanded Friday that the Memphis Police Department comply with a Civil Rights-era consent decree limiting their ability to watch Memphians as federal agencies and National Guard forces make their way to the Bluff City.
The ACLU said they sent a “detailed legal letter” to Mayor Paul Young and Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis insisting upon the department’s compliance with the “Modified Kendrick Consent Decree” as federal forces and National Guard troops make their way to the city as President Trump’s “Memphis Safe Task Force.” The letter, the organization said, outlines restrictions on how the MPD “can coordinate with federal forces while protecting residents’ First Amendment rights to speak out and protest, or free speech, free assembly, and free association.”
“The Kendrick Consent Decree represents nearly five decades of protection for Memphis residents’ First Amendment rights,” said Stella Yarbrough, Legal Director for ACLU-TN. “Federal and National Guard involvement in local law enforcement doesn’t diminish these protections. 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.”…