The Memphis Police Department may have failed to conduct required performance audits of a program designed to modify the behavior of struggling officers.
MPD requires audits every six months of its Performance Enhancement Program, or PEP, a non-disciplinary program that provides counseling, remedial training and other early-intervention services to officers struggling to meet expectations governing courtesy, use of force, firearms use, punctuality, patrol driving and other concerns.
MPD’s policy and procedures manual mandates audits of PEP every six months to verify accuracy of data and evaluate “the outcomes of supervisory interventions and the quality of supervisory reviews.’’
However, records released by the city in connection with a public records lawsuit suggest MPD may have not been conducting these audits. The suit, brought by a Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press attorney on behalf of a Memphis journalist, had sought the PEP audit reports. But in settling the suit, the city released only a series of PEP annual reports documenting the number of officers referred to PEP and other statistical details.
Additional reading: Secrecy surrounds PEP details, effectiveness
In reaching the settlement, completed in January, the city agreed to pay $7,420 to cover legal fees and court costs incurred in bringing the suit.
The suit was filed in June 2023, nearly two-and-a-half years after a reporter first filed a request under the Tennessee Public Records Act for the audit reports. The city never denied the records request, but sent 41 separate updates saying officials needed more time to retrieve, review or redact the records.
A reporter sent an email last week asking if MPD is now conducting the audits, but mayoral spokesperson Penelope Huston said officials would not comment, citing a separate ongoing public records lawsuit involving PEP.
Meantime, one former Memphis police officer who was once enrolled in PEP said more scrutiny is needed to ensure that PEP and other MPD integrity initiatives operate effectively to serve the public.
“From my experience with PEP, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t do anything,’’ said Colin Berryhill, who resigned from MPD in 2020 amid an internal investigation into his use of force with a Taser. “They were not trying to get you help. They were not making any concentrated effort.’’
MPD’s manual describes PEP as “a structured system designed to identify and manage behaviors that result in performance related problems.’’ PEP is “a non-disciplinary system” – officers referred to it generally are not subject to suspension or other disciplinary action, but instead receive “coaching, training, and professional development” to assist officers “in order to provide the highest level of service and satisfaction to the public.”
Officers referred to PEP can receive a range of “non-punitive” intervention including anger management, cultural awareness and conflict resolution training, remedial driving or firearms instruction and focused training on communication skills, “critical incident diffusing”, “verbal judo”, defensive tactics and “tactical response to critical incidents”.
In reaching the January settlement, the city released a series of PEP annual reports stretching back to 2019.
Those reports show relatively few officers flagged by PEP’s electronic tracking system end up enrolled in the program.
In 2022, the latest year for which an annual report was available, PEP received 446 alerts about concerning behavior, yet only 57 of them – 12.8% – resulted in enrollments into the program. The city didn’t release an annual report for 2023 in the settlement, but did release four quarterly reports for that year. Those reports collectively show MPD supervisors received 325 alerts that year, but only enrolled 49 officers in PEP, or 15.1%.
Among 76 alerts involving use of force in 2022, none resulted in enrollments in PEP. Use of force incidents are measured when an officer files a response to resistance form following a physical encounter with a citizen. Under PEP protocol, supervisors are notified when an officer accumulates four response-to-resistance incidents within three months.
The percent of alerts referred to PEP was higher when supervisors alleged that officers had violated department rules involving excessive force. Among 23 alerts received in 2022 involving excessive force allegations, three, or 13%, were enrolled in PEP. Excessive force enrollments weren’t available for 2023.
Some alert thresholds have been raised in recent years, records show. For example, MPD policy in 2020 said the use-of-force alert threshold was three incidents within three months; it’s now four. The overall complaint threshold in 2020 was five incidents within 12 months. It’s now six, according to the June 27, 2023, version of MPD’s policy manual, the latest that could be located on MPD’s websites.
Additionally, MPD policy says thresholds can be adjusted in given situations with approval by the chief of police.
PEP coordinator Lt. Laquita Jones said secrecy is important to protect PEP’s sensitive details.
“It’s actually only certain people (who) know that you are in the program,’’ Jones testified in a 2022 hearing for an ongoing public records suit that seeks access to performance improvement plans involving three former officers, including Berryhill.
“…Once you have completed the program the records are sealed and filed and not discussed again.’’
