Memphis Politics - Three More Bite the Dust - More to Follow

From WHBQ's Website -
Memphis, Tenn. (WHBQ)- Operation Main Street Sweeper and Operation Clean Sweep are federal investigations that caught three city leaders in an alleged web of public corruption. City councilmen Edmund Ford and Rickey Peete and former Shelby County Commissioner Joe Cooper have all been arrested and face 20 years in prison.

It's tragic on the one hand, yet usual and customary, on the other. As I have said many times in the past, we have a culture of corruption in Memphis and Shelby County. That is a contributing factor to this constant cycle of indictment, denial, conviction of public officials. The current Sheriff, mayors, the District Attorney, and most of the commissioners and council members have enjoyed the company of these indictees. I pulled Mark Luttrell, AC Wharton, Bill Gibbons, and other's disclosure forms this year. One thing that almost shocked me was that all of them had taken money from convicted felons. Bill Gibbons called me the day after I pulled his, I guess with the idea of attempting to intimidate me. I told him I was checking to see who had taken money from a convicted cocaine dealer, Rusty Hyneman. Well he offered that he didn't even know him and had only met him once and he went further to say he would never take money from him. I said, I didn't think he would, but then again, I didn't think the Sheriff or mayor would do that either. I thanked him for calling and went about my business. I found later, after rechecking, that he had taken money from a convicted felon by the name of Ricky Peete. The same Rickey Peete who was arrested today.

The local politicians see no problem with consorting with these underworld figures and even take money from them, as Mark Luttrell has said, with no apology.

I'm posting just a few clips of the disclosure forms of some of our illustrious officials who are and have been pals with these criminals and soon to be criminals:

Here is evidence that Bill Gibbons is supported by Rickey Peete.


And here is evidence of Mark Luttrell's contribution from Joe Cooper. Of course, I could also post snapshots of him taking money from other convicted felons like Rusty Hyneman, William B. Tanner and others, but since Joe Cooper is the one who was arrested today, I'll just post his.


Luttrell says he thinks it's okay to run with these people. Here's a quote from Channel 3's website this summer:
In their first live televised debate, both incumbent Sheriff Mark Luttrell and Democrat Reginald French answered some tough questions.

Especially on campaign contributions. Both admitted taking money from convicted felons.

"I make no apologies for working with people who are contributing to the betterment of society who have paid their debt to society," says Luttrell.

Then there's this picture of Joe Cooper at Mark Luttrell's HQ Grand Opening:




Wintermute points out that Steve Cohen passed a law that will help ensure that thugs cannot serve once convicted, thereby closing a gaping loophole that allowed Ricky Peete to get back in the groove. While I don't agree with a some of Steve Cohen's views, he did us a great favor with this one.

"This year in the Tennessee General Assembly, Senator Steve Cohen was successful in getting restoration of the right to vote streamlined for most ex-felons, except those convicted of a few named offenses (new law in .pdf); but on a subject Steve and I discussed previously, he also got passed in that law a prohibition on anyone committing malfeasance in public office ever being able to regain the right to vote -- and consequently to be able to run for office again -- in Tennessee. This supplements the 1989 law providing for a permanent exclusion from public office for bribery and a 10-year bar for official misconduct."

One thing some of these arrestees have in common is they are no strangers to the legal system. Ricky Peete served time in the Federal pen once already, as did Joe Cooper. Another thing that keeps surfacing is billboards. There must be a ton of money in billboard advertising . . . .

It also seems a little more than coincidence that Joe Cooper has been linked to another politician with the last name of Peete - now deceased Chancellor Floyd Peete.
Joe testified he arranged for the chancellor to fly on a plane owned by Rusty Hyneman to a Sugar Bowl game. Joe was working for William B. Tanner at the time, and also Rusty, I guess. Here's a link to a site that has the story the Commercial Appeal ran. And here's an excerpt from the story:

On Tanner, Cooper testified that the billboard and banking mogul hired him sometime around 1996, paying him $60,000 a year as a land development consultant and business executive.

Although Cooper's employment ended near the start of 2000, he testified he "was still doing things'' for Tanner and carrying three of the businessman's credit cards around Labor Day 2001 when Chancellor Peete called him from Florida.

Cooper recalled Peete telling him "his credit card was not working and he needed to pay for some rooms for the weekend.'' Cooper said he called Peete's hotel and "purported myself to be William B. Tanner,'' then used one of Tanner's cards to cover the $1,400 charge.

A month after the incident, Peete ruled in Tanner's favor in the lawsuit against him, ordering Peck to reimburse Tanner for $719,586 spent in his legal defense. Peck's lawyers contend the hotel charge amounted to improper influence, yet Cooper said Peete never knew he'd used Tanner's card.

EETREDSILEEIBII Crime Fighting Plan

Yep, it's finally "out there" - EETREDSILEEIBII That's the acronym you get when you take the first letter of each of these brilliant crime fighting strategeries. I think it's pronounced like etreadsalibi. Politicians never cease to amaze me. They have an uncanny ability to focus everything on themselves, particularly when they think there is a possibility of government funding which can be used to push their names out in front of the public. If they can provide some menial jobs for a lot of people through these boondoggles, all the better. WREG noted how the general citizenry (you and me) were excluded from participating in this mind meld.

Even though citizens were excluded from participating in the planning and discussion, I believe actually fighting crime is a job best left to those who have done it before. The MPD is aggressively attacking crime and I applaud them for that. The problem is the other players, aren't on the same page. If crime is to be deterred in Shelby County, there must be an emphasis on behavior modification. There is nothing in this plan that speaks to that. Only touchy feely stuff, other than the MPD's aggressive enforcement approach. The Sheriff has gutted the Sheriff's Office so there aren't enough officers to do anything. This summer I reported that the gang unit only had 10 officers. I spoke with a buddy the other day who still works there and he said they now have six!

The DA wants more money and less work. Hmm, a smaller caseload? More courtrooms, more prosecutors, more, more, more. Kinda has a democrat ring to it, doesn't it. Sounds a lot like the County Commission. Heck, why not, let's add a black district attorney because the white one certainly can't identify with the majority of Memphis. While we're at it, the Shurf is a white guy too.

But I digress. . . back on point. If we want to change these thugs behavior, we have to condition them to not do wrong. The best way to do that is implement a program (without a fiscal note) that puts them into a progressive discipline matrix. You come to jail the first time, you pretty much just get to spend the night (shock effect). The second time you come to jail, we turn the heat up. A person who makes the third visit to jail should not be looking forward to the trip, because he shoals already know he will be working at the PENAL FARM (I didn't say correctional center because that doesn't really exist). The more times a person comes to jail, the more punishment gets doled out. We don't need expensive jails to make this work. It works in Phoenix and they use tent compounds. We can do the same.

I noticed that the judges and representatives from the TN Dept of Corrections weren't included in this soiree. That's unfortunate because they are the ones who are allowing these thugs back on the streets. Police can arrest all they want, but until there is a jail undercrowding committee, we'll have problems with criminals breaking into our homes. I've said it before but anytime you have a metro area with over 17,000 people who have been arrested 10 times or more each, you have a problem. Shelby County has a group of over 17,000 who have been arrested over 253,000 times. If we factor each event as costing us just $500.00, they will have cost us over 125 million dollars.

I don't hold out much hope for this plan because there is no emphasis on changing behavior, which is all "fighting crime" or "crime reduction" really amounts to. The goal is the cessation of criminal activity, but we reward our thugs with a get out of jail card as soon as they get there.

Here's the strategerie and my comments on each item.

1.Expand data-driven police deployment in Shelby County .

This is a good thing. Crime analysis, properly done, can even predict patterns of crime. Of course, some areas are already no-brainers to the street cops. More aggressive enforcement should follow.

2.Expand the Project Safe Neighborhood law enforcement partnership model in Shelby County

What is really being said is we need to be more aggressive. I concur.

3.Toughen state laws for gun crime

I’m for that, but that means the DA can’t plea bargain it down, or throw the charge out. How about the DA reviews each offender and concentrates on repeat, repeat, repeat offenders. More than tougher gun laws, tougher prosecution of these parasites would be much more effective.

4.Reduce the caseload per prosecutor in the D.A.’s office for more effective prosecution

Yeah right.

5.Expand Drug Court Program so that it operates consistently and at full capacity

Duh, this is a no brainer.

6.Design and implement a comprehensive gang strategy

How many years have we had a “gang strategy”? I remember Jack Owens talking about gang problems when we implemented “Jump and Grab” in 1988. The SCSO doesn’t have a “gang” unit. They have a gang club. Luttrell has gutted the dept so that there are only 6 officers in the “club”. The MPD will have to deal with this issue alone.

7.Sustain and expand student safety initiatives in public school systems

This does nothing new.

8.Implement mentoring-based truancy reduction program

What does this mean? Can we be more abstract? How do you mentor someone into becoming a responsible citizen, when they go home to an apartment where they live with their grandmother, and their mother is selling crack or herself on the side? One major problem with crime in this county is the single “parent” family. Young boys need father figures and discipline. These kids don’t get it at “home.” I don’t have a ready answer on this issue. I admit it is a tough one. What do we do about this problem?

9.Launch the JustCare 180 degree program to “turnaround” youth charged with unruly
and delinquent offenses

I’m sorry. When I see things like this item, it bothers me. Show me this has worked before I will buy into it. Google shows this is another Federally funded program. In other words - same (show me tha money)

10.Expand juvenile offender re-entry programs

More of the same (show me tha money)

11.Expand and coordinate adult offender re-entry programs

More of the same (show me tha money)

12.Implement proactive, coordinated “problem properties” system

This is a good program. I first experienced other agencies doing this in 1988 when I attended a drug task force conference in Miami, FL . Other jurisdictions have been doing this for decades with great success. My partner and I wrote this up as a plan in 1988. I guess they just found the papers.

13.Build communication campaign that promotes tough consequences for crime

I think this means use federal funds to purchase billboards and run ads on television late at night telling people to play nice or else. I’m sorry, but I think word of mouth from the convicts is the best advertising. The word is out about gun crimes because the thugs understand. They understand because they’ve seen or heard that one of their buds is doing hard time because of it. You might say, “we don’t need no stinkin billboards”. I know the politicians want to be able to see their names on the billboards, so this is really number 1 in the plan.

14.Implement coordinated domestic violence initiative

How about some billboards and tv spots that say – Don’t hit other people! (this message brought to you by (rotate the politician’s name) because he/she really cares about you!


15.Implement “Operation Safe Surrender”

Haha, sorry I just can’t stop laughing at this one. Touchy-Feely again. This is a program that asks the felony fugitives to please turn themselves in “in a non threatening way”. I’m sorry, I just spent too many years chasing these thugs and I have a different perspective. Who thinks these folks can’t turn themselves in to the police, deputies, ministers, or anyone else right now? It happens all the time. I get calls all the time with people telling me they are going to turn someone in. They just want to know how much the bond is, or if there is going to be a bond. Yep, this is another one of those (show me tha money) programs.

Here's an excerpt from the US Marshall's website:
Fugitive Safe Surrender is a unique, creative, and highly successful, initiative that encourages persons wanted for non-violent felony or misdemeanor crimes to voluntarily surrender to the law in a faith-based or other neutral setting. Managed by the United States Marshals Service as a community re-entry program for wanted non-violent offenders, Fugitive Safe Surrender offers individuals with felony and misdemeanor warrants the ability to turn themselves in to law enforcement and have their cases adjudicated in a safe and non-violent environment. The goal of Fugitive Safe Surrender is to reduce the risk to law enforcement officers who pursue fugitives, to the neighborhoods in which they hide, and to the fugitives themselves. Authorized by Congress in July 2006, Fugitive Safe Surrender is believed to be the first program of its kind in the nation.


I have some ideas that I plan to send to the MPD Police Director that I believe will help in the apprehension of these criminals, but we still have the problem of the judges and corrections letting these people out.

OK, Here's the Plan

Joe (Backroom) Republican is talking with his cronies . . .

First we float an idea of building a 200 million dollar jail (which if built would cost 300 million). When people are shocked by that, we bring back the privatization issue. We can sell it by telling people it will be much better and we can actually make money, which can be used to retire the debt(I know we aren't going to retire the 2 billion dollar debt with 10 million, but work with me). Of course, we keep Aramark/Servicemaster in the loop on food purchases, but we also bring CCA into the picture. You know several of the local guys have lots of stock in them.

(Fellow crook, er crony)
Well, how do we pull this off? There are more democrats on the county commission than republicans and they have been against privatization. Maybe if we get a republican commissioner to offer them something, like say a Juvenile court judgeship, they will work a trade-off?

Hmmm, sounds like gravy to me. . . .

Finding Information on Criminals in Shelby County

New Shelby County Clerk's JSSI Website

A new JSSI website is finally up. It has a different look and when doing a name search the user can now even enter the last name, then tab down to the first name field. That used to throw the cursor into the url of the webpage. Of course, all JSSI searches are supposed to convert the names to upper case and it will, if you tab out of the first name field. But, if you just hit enter, and you entered the first name in lowercase, you won't get the expected results because they are relying on all case conversion to be done on the front end.AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH.

I don't understand why it has to be so difficult, but it apparently is. Whoever designed this website apparently doesn't use it. Wouldn't it be nice if you had a webpage where you could do a name search, which would list all the hits in a single page? That page could have the booking numbers hyperlined to the cases and the RNI numbers linked to a report on ALL arrest/booking/indictment data. It seems to me, once you have an RNI number(the number that is linked to the arrestee's fingerprints) the program should collect all the data from BOTH clerks. It doesn't though. You still have to go to the General Sessions Clerk's piece of the puzzle and then to the Criminal Court Clerk's piece.

Another little "problem" is the fact that once you do a General Sessions NAME SEARCH, and it returns a webpage with booking numbers, you can click on any of those booking numbers and you'll get the same result. You have to go all the way back and rerun the query on the name again, and make sure you don't pick the same booking number. Yep, you guessed it - AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH.

Memphis Home Defense Tool?

Actually, it's a machine gun for use on the DMZ between North and South Korea, but I can see some application locally!

Juvenile Judge Responses

I got several responses to my email from commissioners today:

David Lillard and Mike Ritz emailed they voted against it.

Deidre Malone called and tried to explain why she is supporting/sponsoring the addition of a judgeship.

Wyatt Bunker called and said he was trying his best to hold the line on spending and he doesn't see the need to add another judge. He also said if we add a referee, the county only has to pay about 25% of the cost because the feds will pick up the rest.

Here's J W Gibson's reply via email to me:
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Thank you for your comments and I appreciate you keeping an eye on the actions we as elected officials take. We are about to being a series on public meeting dealing with this issue. I would like to personally invite you come listen and speak on this very important issue.

J.W. Gibson, II
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After hearing Wyatt's comments, it makes a lot more sense to add a couple of referees and let the federal govt. pay most of the cost. This would have the greatest impact on the backlog. This and if they were to make them work a full eight hours.

Are Gangs a Problem or Not?

Today's Commercial Appeal has a story about a consultant giving a talk in Desoto County. The topic was gangs. He said some things that should have been said here in Shelby County two years ago, maybe longer. I seem to remember someone saying we don't have a big drug or gang problem in the county. That statement was about a year before Millington PD busted 25 kids for selling drugs in a county school.

From the CA article:
"Right now, right across the state line, Memphis City Schools are out of control, totally out of control," said Jason Farmer, former victim-witness coordinator for Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons' office.
He said the situation is similar in Shelby County Schools.

Farmer is now a consultant with the National Gang Crime Research Center and substitutes at Southaven High School on his off days.

Farmer and Jimmy Chambers, an anti-gangs investigator in Gibbons' office, made a presentation on gangs at a DeSoto school board meeting last week. Education Supt. Milton Kuykendall said he asked that the presentation be made to inform school board members.

Chambers described the widespread presence of gang members in Memphis and Shelby County and his experiences in dealing with them.

Farmer said he believes a "huge gang fight" involving gunfire may break out "inside an enclosed situation in one of the (Memphis or Shelby County) schools in a gymnasium or a football game."

In addition to danger from gunfire, many students and others could be trampled in the "madness" that would occur during such an event, he said.

Farmer, who said gangs are in suburban as well as poor, inner-city areas, said DeSoto County now stands where Memphis and Shelby County stood about 10 years ago.

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It seems to me Desoto County had better nip this in the bud, before the taxpayers there have to start looking toward Marshall County. The MCS and SCS spokespersons responded to the above by saying everything is pretty much under control. Either Desoto will deal with it now, or later. This problem will not just go away - on it's own.