Memphis Police Officer Report

November 2018 will make thirteen years as a commissioned officer for the Memphis Police Department. My rank is patrolman and I am assigned to the uniform patrol division at the Crump Station. In uniform patrol I am responsible for enforcing local, state, and federal regulations as well as proactively policing the community. I am responsible for ensuring public safety by protecting and serving the citizens of Memphis, and it is visitors(Memphis Police Department, 2018). My department has not been consistent with promotion until about two years ago where over a thousand officers were eligible for promotions. My department has been in constant battle with the city over health care benefits, pension plans, and base pay increases. The negotiations …show more content…
However there are so many officers who have less than ten years to retire they are choosing not enter the process. Also some officers mentioned that they would take a pay cut, if they are promoted to the next level because of all the available overtime. During those negotiations our previous Mayor cut a lot the benefits for city employers and over five hundred officers left the department for better opportunities. That mass exodus left the department in a shortage of officers(Anthony, 2014). Six years into my career I was able to move laterally when I was appointed to the Multi-Agency Gang Unit under the Organized Crime Division where I held the rank of Detective. While on the gang unit is where I fostered lifelong friendships with two of four co-workers. I do not have a close relationship with any of my classmates from my training academy class. I talk to all of my classmates when I see them in passing. However, there is no one that I call on a regular basis. The police officers whom I am the closest to I had known them before we all were police …show more content…
The friend that I met on the job was during our time at the gang unit. He received a medical retirement after getting shot in the back by a co-worker while executing a search warrant. It is still a difficult situation to deal with, on the bright side he has made a full recovery and is raising his family out of state. We were both at the peak of our careers when he got shot. He had been in the Organized Crime Division before, so he was showing me the “ropes”. For me, the gang culture, narcotics, and vice work were going well for me because I was a quick learner. Therefore I submerged myself in the material. I was a street cop with a Bachelor's degree, which made for the right combination. I felt we were really making a difference and arresting some really bad criminals. The other co-worker who I call my friend was also my partner in the Organized Crime Unit. His speciality was vice narcotics. I had know him from our college days at the University of Memphis we also worked together in uniform patrol before he got his opportunity to go to OCU. He was transferred to the gang unit about two years before he resigned. We did a lot of covert operations together and community