Investigative Services

Deputy Chief: Joe Scott

Colonel: Mary Newsom

Administrative Commander:
Major Jeff Polk

Investigations

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 branches of the Memphis
Police Department and other law enforcement agencies to solve crime.

Investigative Services is comprised of Crimes Against Persons and Crimes Against Property investigative bureaus, the Felony Response Unit and Crime Scene Investigations.

Crimes Against Persons bureaus handle homicides, sexual assaults, and crimes of an immediate personal nature.

Crimes Against Property bureaus handles burglary, vehicle theft, larceny and incidents where property theft is the principal crime involved.

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Sex Crimes/Juvenile Abuse

This unit is responsible for handling investigations involving any sexual or physically abusive crime. In 2009, the Sex Crimes/Juvenile Abuse Squad reviewed 1,593 total cases which included 293 rapes, 220 forcible fondlings, and 118 stalking complaints. Sex Crimes reported a clearance rate of 56.0% for rape cases and an overall clearance rate of 51.4% in 2009.

Homicide

The Homicide Bureau is responsible for conducting all investigations related to homicides, suicides, and natural or accidental deaths. Memphis recorded 147 homicides in 2009 compared to 168 in 2008. The Homicide Bureau was able to clear 94% of all homicides in 2009 while the national average is 63.6%. Homicide also made 170 arrests and investigated 2,462 cases.

Domestic Violence

The Domestic Violence Unit (DV) is responsible for investigating incidents involving domestic violence. The DV Unit works closely with the Citizens Dispute Office and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office regarding Domestic Violence warrants and protective orders. In 2009, the DV Unit reviewed 25,181 cases which included 2,075 aggravated assaults and 12,890 simple assaults.

Missing Persons

The Missing Persons Unit handles all cases involving missing persons and runaways. During 2009, Missing Persons investigators handled 3,828 cases. Of those cases, 1,220 were missing persons and 2,608 were runaways.

Felony Assault

This unit was formed to aggressively investigate aggravated assaults in the same manner as homicides. In 2009, the Felony Assault Unit worked 3,142 aggravated assault cases compared to 3,409 cases in 2008. The Felony Assault Unit (FAU) was able to clear 63.81% of those cases in 2009 compared to 67.2% in 2008. The total workload for the FAU in 2009 was 3,544 cases - a decrease in the 3,796 cases FAU handled in 2008.

Economic Crimes

The Economic 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 2009, Economic Crime investigators handled 5,074 cases, made 361 total arrests and had a 19% clearance rate up from a 13% clearance rate for 2008

Burglary

The Burglary Squad is responsible for investigating residential and business burglaries, as well as, all theft of interstate shipments. The Burglary Bureau handled 112,780 assigned cases - 9,958 residential burglaries, 1,825 business burglaries, and 1,001 non-residential burglaries - and made 1,001 arrests during 2009. The clearance rate for the Burglary Unit’s total case load was 12.52% in 2009 up from 2008's 9.58% clearance rate.

Felony Response

The Felony Response Charlie and Alpha shifts handle preliminary investigations of all types of crime classifications. Offenses investigated include: rape, homicide, robbery, burglary, and larceny. In 2009, Felony Response handled 4,990 calls and made 2,917 arrests.

Robbery

This unit investigates robberies citywide, including carjackings and business robberies. During 2009, the Robbery Squad handled 4,620 complaints – a decrease of 975 complaints from 2008’s total of 5,595. These cases included 3,499 individual robberies, 341 business robberies, 249 carjackings, and 302 home invasion robberies. The Robbery Squad arrested 796 adults and 240 juveniles in 2009. The Robbery Squad‘s 2009 clearance rate was 28.7%. Please note: Bank robberies are no longer handled by the Robbery Squad as they have been assigned to the Safe Streets Task Force.

General Assignment

General Assignment is designed to respond to cases such as simple assault, aggravated assault, larceny under $500, vandalisms, accidental injuries, and reckless endangerment. Investigators assigned to GAB handle walk-in complaints and work in conjunction with the Citizens Dispute Office. In 2009, GAB handled 41,600 cases including 5,541 simple assaults, 6,268 shopliftings, 222 weapons offenses, 8,009 vandalisms, 5,846 theft other offenses, 4,635 intimidations, and 6,750 miscellaneous cases. General Assignment cleared 53.6% of all cases in 2009.

Vehicle Theft

Vehicle Theft is responsible for the prompt handling of citizen complaints regarding the theft of vehicles and thefts from vehicles. During 2009, the Vehicle Theft handled 19,486 complaints and made 738 arrests. Of those arrested - 654 were adults and 84 were juveniles. The vehicle recovery rate for 2009 was 94.7%. The auto theft clearance rate was 27.7% in 2009 up from 24.1% in 2008.

Crime Scene Investigations

The CSI unit processes and secures evidence at the scene of major crimes. In 2001, the Crime Scene Investigations 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 2009, CSI employees responded to 4,226 calls for police service, took 75,527 photographs, made 1,492 scene inventories, tagged 17,356 items, examined 20,064 latent fingerprints and compared 94,341 prints and palms.