The Feds are Going to Graceland
Plus federalized pretrial release, sickness in Chicago, and breaking in to jail
The Mississippi Delta was shining like a national guitar
I am following the river down the highway through the cradle of the civil war I'm going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee
—Paul Simon
Memphis is not only the home to Elvis, Ja Morant, and the 10th largest pyramid in the world, it will now host the national guard in President Trump’s second deployment of military assets to U.S. cities in a broadening effort to reduce urban crime. Trump signed an executive order on Monday that he says will be a “replica of our extraordinarily successful efforts” in D.C. Leaders in Tennessee are split on the idea and the details.
Through his executive order, Trump says the guard will assist a broad task force that includes state and local agencies and the federal Departments of Treasury, War, Justice, and Homeland Security (along with 9 other federal agencies) to “restore law and order [and] end street and violent crime in Memphis to the greatest possible extent through the promotion and facilitation of hypervigilant policing, aggressive prosecution, complex investigations, financial enforcement, and large-scale saturation of besieged neighborhoods with law enforcement personnel.”
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee says the joint effort will be part of “Operation Viper” which he has been working on with the administration for months. He says he is tired of Memphis being held back due to crime.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young did not ask for the federal assistance and does not think the effort will reduce crime. He suggests that the federal efforts focus on:
traffic assistance for large events
assistance with monitoring cameras
lending a hand with neighborhood beautification
Whatever the details of the deployment or how seriously any politician takes the effort, the crime problem in Memphis is serious.
Memphis has the highest violent crime rate of major cities in the U.S and the second highest murder rate. The violent crime rate is 300-600% higher than the national average and it is the only U.S. city in the top 10 most dangerous cities in the world.
The Memphis police and Mayor point to statistics showing a recent reduction in crime, but few would dispute that current levels of violent crime remain stratospheric. Better traffic control and neighborhood beautification may not be the answer.
Is Chicago Next?: Calling the city a death trap, Trump continues to talk about sending the national guard to Chicago. For his part, Governor Pritzker does not support and would not ask for federal assistance with crime. He says that Trump is “losing it.” Mayor Johnson has been even more blunt. He not only doesn’t want more law enforcement, he is questioning the current state of law enforcement. “Jails and incarceration and law enforcement are a sickness that has not lead to safe communities.” And he intends to “eradicate” that sickness.
Cashless Bail: While the White House sends the national guard to Washington D.C., Memphis and other cities across the country, Trump continues to argue that cashless bail is a dangerous policy. So dangerous, in fact, that the White House formal policy specifies that federal “resources should not be used to support jurisdictions with cashless bail policies, to the maximum extent permitted by law.”
Until last month, state and local bail policies were mostly considered state and local issues and many, many people have thoughts on the new federal push. On Wednesday, Marc Levin and Khalil Cumberbatch from the Council on Criminal Justice published their argument that the federal threats to cashless bail are largely symbolic, but also bad policy. They argue:
only 1% of defendants in Washington D.C. commit violent offenses while on pretrial release
cash bail favors the rich while punishing the poor in a system where few involved are likely to commit violent offenses
risk assessment should be used by courts when deciding terms of release
pretrial supervision and services should be increased as they are effective in reducing rearrests
a variety of interventions can help improve pre-trial release in the right circumstance including cognitive behavioral therapy, other types of therapy and electronic monitoring
pretrial decisions should be made on an individual basis and judges should have the discretion to deny bail when appropriate
The authors acknowledge that it is “galling” when someone on pretrial release commits a serious offense. But, local leaders often don’t understand this part of the equation even when the violence is more than galling (Video—warning, extremely graphic).
Across the pond: Do smarter people commit less crime? Or is Finland an outlier? A study based on 20,000 Finnish men finds a direct linear equation between crime and IQ. Higher IQ leads to lower rates of crime overall and across all crime categories. But, are the crimes committed actually lower or do smart people just get away with more crimes?
What can you say in the U.K.? The Irish comedian Graham Linehan was arrested by five armed officers as he stepped off of a plane at Heathrow airport in London earlier this month. His crime? Three mean tweets. He was arrested, interviewed, and eventually released on the condition that he make no posts on X on any subject while in the U.K. and appear for a second interview next month. He is not alone. The U.K. makes around 30 arrests per day for speech crimes (approx. 12,000 per year). These are largely arrests made after someone gets offended on social media and calls the police. While the police are busy chasing online opinion-havers, the courts cannot process the serious crimes. They currently have a backlog of over 76,000 serious offenses and an average disposition time of over 835 days after charging. Some cases are currently being set for trial in 2029.
Stranger Stuff:
Reversation: Paroled bank robber grabbed a correctional officer by the throat and punched him in the face in an attempt to break in to a Michigan jail.
There are easier ways to commit fraud: A British doctor has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for insurance fraud. He packed his own legs in dry ice in an act of fetishized self-mutilation and, after both legs were amputated, lied about it to collect over $600,000 in insurance payments.
He even has a firefighter helmet too: A convicted felon was arrested after impersonating a police officer in Washington. And he didn’t try to just get free snacks at a gas station, he was actually responding to emergency calls.
Better than cashless bail: Woman walks out of Louisiana jail after release with criminal trespass charges, attempts to steal unmarked police car in jail parking lot, successfully steals public works truck, ditches truck with release paperwork left inside, hitches ride, is captured outside grocery store, and is back in jail within two hours.
Can’t AI do that?: A Louisiana man successfully impersonated a local judge and convinced a jail to release his buddy on his own recognizance. When the buddy later showed up for court, the judge figured out the scam and ordered the man sent back to jail. Guess who started calling the jail again.
Can’t believe they caught this guy: He’s too smooth.