Editor’s note: This story has been updated after Mayor Paul Young said Thursday that his administration will enforce the ordinances as passed by the City Council.
This story was updated on May 27, 2025, with the correct spelling of Tyré Nichols name.
Former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration never enforced police reform ordinances passed by the Memphis City Council in the wake of Tyré Nichols’ death, according to a letter sent from Strickland to the council just days before his term ended.
Those ordinances, supported overwhelmingly by members of the City Council, aimed to stop unnecessary police interactions like the traffic stop before Nichols’ death.
“The mayor allowed the entire city to believe the city had responded to their cries of justice for Tyré Nichols, and then did nothing and sat on that, letting people believe something had happened until the final days of his administration,” said Adam Nelson, an organizer with DeCarcerate Memphis who worked to ensure passage of the ordinances. “Mayor (Paul) Young needs to repudiate that immediately and say he’s going to enforce these ordinances and tell us how he’s going to start doing it.”
In a news conference Thursday, Young told media, “We will enforce the ordinances as approved by the City Council.”
The press conference followed the first meeting of a public safety task force assembled by Young, including state, city, county and federal officials.
In the letter, which former City Council Chairman Martavius Jones confirmed was sent Dec. 29, fewer than two weeks from the one-year anniversary of Nichols’ death, Strickland writes that he refused to sign the ordinances, but also that he knew a veto would be overturned by the council.
According to the city charter, ordinances that are neither signed nor vetoed by the mayor still become law.
In the letter, Strickland says the reform ordinances, along with one regarding facility space for the council’s use, are illegal.
“In many instances, the Ordinances purport to direct officers how to do their jobs, and what they can and cannot do,” Strickland wrote. “There is absolutely no authority vested in the Council to direct the activities of the Division of Police Services in the manner set forth in those ordinances.”
While calling the reform ordinances “salutary goals,” Strickland says, “our administration has not been operating in accordance with the ordinance.”
The Memphis City Council passed multiple reform ordinances in the spring of 2023, following the January death of Tyré Nichols, the 29-year-old Black man who was brutally beaten by multiple Memphis police officers. Five officers have been charged in connection with his death.
One ordinance requires greater data collection on traffic stops, including the reason for the stop, whether force was used and the race, ethnicity, gender, age and location of anyone stopped, and publication of that data. Other ordinances require that police only use marked law enforcement vehicles when conducting traffic stops and not make stops solely for low-level offenses like a broken brake light.
Nichols was pulled over by officers in unmarked cars, according to his family attorney. Police initially said the stop was for “reckless driving,” but Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis later said that allegation could not be substantiated.
Councilmember Michalyn Easter-Thomas said she was “taken aback” that Strickland sent his letter nearly a year after Nichols’ death and months after the April passage of the final ordinance.
“We had knowledge that the ordinances were not signed, however, we were not knowledgeable about the lack of support of their enforcement,” she said. “For the Driving Equality Act in honor of Tyré Nichols, there were high hopes that we could collaborate as government in order to see tangible change that could bring about a safer and more equitable policing situation in Memphis.”
Strickland opposed several of the ordinances at the time of their passage. His term ended Dec. 31, 2023, with Young taking his oath Jan. 1.
While Strickland ran in 2015 and again in 2019 on a “tough on crime” platform, homicides set a new high in the city before the end of his term. And, his police department is currently under investigation by the Department of Justice for unconstitutional conduct and discriminatory policing.
On the campaign trail, Young voiced his support for the reform ordinances. MLK50 did not immediately receive a response from Young’s communications team Wednesday about whether his administration will enforce – and require the Memphis Police Department to enforce – the ordinances. Young has chosen to keep Davis as police chief, according to media reports.
Amber Sherman, an organizer who also worked with DeCarcerate Memphis on the ordinances, said it’s time for Young to “reaffirm his support for the ordinances.”
The letter showed “how out of touch (Strickland) is with the average Memphian,” she said, and “that as mayor, he did not have the community in mind in a lot of his choices.”
Katherine Burgess is the government accountability reporter for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Contact her at katherine.burgess@mlk50.com
This story is brought to you by MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, a nonprofit newsroom focused on poverty, power and policy in Memphis. Support independent journalism by making a tax-deductible donation today. MLK50 is also supported by these generous donors.