home | precincts | overview | careers | traffic | academy | community | investigations
crime prevention tips | special ops | in memoriam | links | burglary prevention tips
The Investigative Services branch of the Memphis Police Department is responsible for thoroughly reviewing the details surrounding every crime committed in Memphis. Investigative Services works closely with all divisions of the Memphis Police Department and other law enforcement agencies to solve crime.
Deputy Chief: Mike Lee
Investigative Services is separated into two divisions: Personal Felonies, which handles homicides, sexual assaults, and crimes of an immediate personal nature; and Property Felonies, which handles burglary, auto theft, and incidents where property theft is the principal crime involved.
personal felony squads property felonies squads support units domestic violence This unit is responsible for investigating incidents involving domestic violence. The DV Unit became fully operational in February of 1998. The DV Unit works closely with the Citizens Dispute Office and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office regarding Domestic Violence warrants and protective orders. Case reviews are conducted daily with a sergeant from the Unit and the Attorney General’s office.
In 2003, the DV Unit reviewed 18,174 cases which included 2,796 aggravated assaults and 15,378 simple assaults. The DV Unit reported a clearance rate of 86.0% for cases involving aggravated assaults and a clearance rate of 95.0% for simple assaults. The total clearance rate for the DV Unit for 2003 was 93.7%.
Back to Indexfelony response This unit handles preliminary investigations of all types of crime classifications. Offenses investigated include: rape, homicide, robbery, burglary, and larceny.
In 2002, the Felony Response Unit handled 5,193 calls and made 3,696 arrests.
Back to Indexsex crimes/child abuse squad This unit is responsible for handling investigations involving any sexual or physically abusive crime.
In 2003, the Sex Crimes/Juvenile Abuse Squad reviewed 1,631 cases which included 520 rapes, 245 forcible fondling, and 138 stalking complaints. Sex Crimes reported a clearance rate of 66% for rape cases.
Back to Indexrobbery squad This unit investigates robberies citywide, including business robberies and bank robberies. During 2003, the Robbery Squad handled 4,924 complaints, an increase of 33 complaints from 2002's total of 4,891. These cases included 879 business robberies, 440 carjackings, 345 home invasion robberies, 32 ATM robberies and 23 bank robberies. The Robbery Squad arrested 663 adults and 166 juveniles for robbery in 2003. The 2003 clearance rate for the total complaints handled by the Robbery Squad was 21.1%.
Back to Indexhomicide bureau This unit conducts investigations into all homicides, suicides, and natural or accidental deaths.
In 2003, Memphis recorded 138 homicides compared to 162 in 2002. The Homicide Bureau was able to clear 86.9% of all homicides. Additionally, the Homicide Bureau made 131 arrests while responding to 3,023 complaints.
Back to Indexburglary squad The Burglary Squad is responsible for investigating residential and business burglaries, as well as all theft of interstate shipments. The Burglary Bureau handled 16,706 burglaries and made 1,679 arrests during 2003. Of those arrested 862 were adults and 367 were juveniles while self-initiated arrests totaled 450. The clearance rate for the Unit's total case load was 13.5 %.
Back to Indexauto theft Auto Theft is responsible for the prompt handling of citizen complaints regarding the theft of vehicle and thefts from vehicle.
During 2003, the Auto Theft Squad handled 22,405 complaints and made 1,483 arrests. Of those arrested, 1,179 were adults and 304 were juveniles. The vehicle recovery rate for 2003 was 71.1%. The auto theft clearance rate was 14.4% in 2003 up from 15.7% in 2002.general assignment bureau This Unit is designed to respond to cases such as simple assault, aggravated assault, larceny under $500.00, missing persons, accidental injuries,
and reckless endangerment. General Assignment Bureau handles walk-in complaints and works in conjunction with the Citizens Dispute Office.In 2003, GAB handled 2,471 felony and 3,946 simple assaults, 5,746 shopliftings, 1,303 missing persons, 8,573 vandalisms, 2,499 runaway juveniles, 2,694 intimidations, and 4,243 miscellaneous.
Back to IndexEconomic Crimes Bureau is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of individuals involved in felony crimes, especially white collar crimes. Crimes investigated include forgeries, counterfeit checks, counterfeit credit and debit cards, computer fraud, insurance fraud, and various other forms of financial institution fraud.
In 2003, investigators handled 9,308 cases, made 599 arrests and cleared 2044 cases for a 21.96% clearance rate.
crime response unit This Unit assists the Investigative Services Units by processing and securing evidence at the scene of major crimes. The officers collect and preserve physical evidence and record each scene with the use of photographs, crime scene sketches, charts, maps, evidence inventories, and detailed descriptive reports. Latent Print Services, Fingerprint Services, and the Bomb Squad are
all part of the Crime Response Unit.In 2001 the Crime Response Unit obtained a new state-of-the art mobile crime response vehicle for deployment to major crime scenes as well as an enclosed trailer to store equipment needed at remote crime scene sites.
In 2003, officers and employees assigned to this unit responded to 11,948 calls for service, took 96,933 photographs, made 5,589 evidence inventories, lifted 6,008 latent fingerprints and compared 38,588 latent fingerprints. The Bomb Squad responded to 41 call outs, 11 dignitary details, and 17 lectures/static displays.
The Bomb Unit is also a part of the Crime Response Unit. This elite, highly specialized unit is trained to respond to emergency situations involving all suspicious package calls. They are the only unit capable of rendering an explosive device safe. They are responsible for bomb sweeps on dignitary protection details and conduct lectures throughout the city on bomb threat plans.
Latent Print Services is staffed by civilian personnel and are responsible for the examination and identification of latent prints that are retrieved from the scene of a crime.
Fingerprint Services is also staffed by civilians and maintains fingerprints and photographic files on all city employees that are required to be printed.
The Crime Response Unit is staffed by one major, two lieutenants, twenty-four patrol officers, and six civilians.
This unit, which was formed in October of 2002, handles investigations of all types of crimes committed by juveniles. These stats reflect the first three months of operation in 2002 for the Juvenile Squad which handled 716 cases and made 1,586 arrests. In 2003 the Juvenile Squad handled 4,118 cases and made 8,285 arrests. crime stoppers 2002 Arrests: 305
2002 Cases Cleared: 585
2002 Stolen Property Recovered: $373,058.08 (value)
2002 Cash Awards Paid to Tipsters: $84,150.00
Crime Stoppers receives thousands of calls each year on various crimes committed in the City of Memphis and Shelby County. Besides the Crime Stoppers program there are other programs coordinated through the Crime Stoppers office that involve the use of confidential calls to solve crimes. They are: Weapons Watch, Drug Watch, Drug Eviction Watch, and the Truancy Hotline.In 2002, calls received to the Weapons and Drug Watch hotline resulted in the arrests of 29 students for illegal activity on or around school property. In cooperation with the Attorney General’s Office, Crime Stoppers answered 350 calls dealing with people selling drugs on rental properties throughout Shelby County through the Drug Eviction Watch program. During 2002, Truancy arrests totalled 157. Visit the MPD Crime Stoppers web site at: http://www.crimestopmem.org
Turn in a Crook and Collect Cash : DIAL 528-CASHVisit our Crime Stoppers Web site at:
Web Designed & Maintained By: Lt. Susan K. LoweLast updated on Thursday, November 18, 2004.
© Copyright Memphis Police Department. All Rights Reserved.
