Major cities across the country have had in place for decades, the police residency requirement. The "theory" being, that a police officer is more effective if he or she lives in the city they patrol. 7 City council members in Memphis, TN bought that story, hook, line and sinker this week when they removed a referendum giving the citizens the authority to decide if MPD can recruit outside of the city. The blood is now on the hands of those 7 "progressive" city council members who have decided that they know better that the citizens what is best. Forget the research that was commissioned by Mayor Jim Strickland, forget the criminal studies presented by the Police Director- those 7 city council members think that they are smarter and more qualified to decide how many officers the city needs and how they should be recruited, than the citizens do. Their arrogance and agenda, driven by Marxist, socialist parties outside of the city of Memphis, was overwhelmingly obvious when they were presented facts and had ZERO argument to dispute those facts. When you answer to someone or some group outside of the city you live, before you answer to the citizens you're supposed to represent, you're political career (many of these council members are youngsters) is like the NBA's 2020 season- OVER.
Now, let's dive into some of the facts regarding residency requirements and whether or not they improve a police officers abilities to perform at the highest level. The answer is simply NO. Requiring a person to reside in the city limits doesn't make the officer any more effective than a teacher who is required to live the city they teach in. That teacher may live in a neighboring city and commute- but would the teacher be a better communicator or better motivator if he or she lived in the same city? Of course not! So why would you expect the same results from a person who could be hired as a police officer, but can't because they live outside the good cop bubble. It's ridiculous and most cities are realizing that and thus, removing or expanding the limits that they can recruit.
Take a look at it from the citizens standpoint- in the event you ever had to call 911, will you tell the dispatcher to send you an officer and make sure it's one who is from the city I live in? Of course that analogy is as absurd as the residency requirement. Just the facts.
Ok, an organization in Minneapolis, MN called Communities Against Police Brutality stated on their web site- "Throughout our research, we have never encountered a shred of evidence that requiring or incentivizing police officers to live in the communities in which they work has any positive effect on the quality of policing,"
Simply put- IT DOESN'T MATTER. Sure, a lot of things in this world matter, this is one that does not. So why are these council members taking away the citizens ability to vote on the police residency? Because they don't answer to the citizens in their districts. They are puppets and are beholden to no one but their Marxists, socialist puppeteers. Who, by the way don't live in Memphis. Isn't it just like them, to tell people how they should live their lives, but the Marxists, socialists don't live by their own requirements.
One of the city council members who voted against police, has a web site with the words transform, progressive and resist used an awful lot. Not to mention lists BLM as a contributor.
I do think it's a questionable practice for any city council member to run a go fund me account with little or no explanation where the money raised will be going. Just because you call it "masks for Memphis", doesn't disclose where the money is being spent or who's spending it. Very questionable and that's one of those things that should matter. I'm sure there's a code of ethics rule somewhere in the Memphis Council Charter that prohibits that sort of thing and maybe, just maybe, it's time to call attention to it.