'Chaos and confusion': Memphis police union to file countersuit in ongoing rank dispute

The Memphis Police Association, the union that represents the majority of officers with the Memphis Police Department, will file a countersuit against the city in an ongoing dispute over a new supervisor rank, the union said during a press conference Monday.

The new rank — called second lieutenant — was rolled out by the department in February of 2023. In an arbitration ruling, dated March 9, 2024, an arbitrator ruled that the city had violated a memorandum of understanding between it and the union by instituting the new rank.

That ruling required MPD to eliminate the second lieutenant rank, and all officers promoted to it returned to their previous position. Throughout the arbitration process, 125 officers were promoted to the new rank, MPA President Matt Cunningham said Monday.

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Weeks later, on March 25, the city filed a petition to vacate the arbitrator's ruling, arguing the arbitrator did not have the authority to set policy or alter the MOU between the city and the union.

The city, in its petition, requested a Shelby County Circuit Court judge vacate that ruling, select a new arbitrator and that a new arbitration hearing be conducted.

Where the disagreement stems from

The new MPD rank — which is below the since-renamed first lieutenant rank and above sergeants — requires five years of experience, none of which has to be served in an investigative role. The traditional lieutenant position, now first lieutenant, requires seven years with the department, with at least two years in an investigative role.

Cunningham, on Monday, said the rank harms morale and places potentially inexperienced officers in leadership roles.

"[The second lieutenant promotional process] not only represents a serious violation of our memorandum of understanding, but it also makes Memphis less safe by taking officers off the street at a time of critical manpower shortages, negatively impacts the careers and pensions of current sergeants and allows for officers with as little as five years on the job — without critical investigative experience — to jump to a supervisory rank," Cunningham said. "Need anyone be reminded that the senior officer on the tragic Tyre Nichols scene only had five years of experience."

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It has also caused "chaos and confusion" within the department, Cunningham said.

"Morale has plummeted to the lowest depth we've seen since benefit cuts a decade ago that led to the mass exodus of nearly 500 officers," he said. "The most frustrating aspect of this situation is that it was easily avoidable. The MPA reached out multiple times in the months preceding the arbitration in an effort to work collaboratively to find a way forward."

Disagreements over bargaining unit

In its petition, the city said the MPA supported the new position at the beginning but withdrew support when they were told officers promoted to second lieutenant would not be part of the union's bargaining unit. Any officer with MPD can join the union, with Cunningham naming interim MPD Chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis as a member, but only those ranked sergeant and below are part of the bargaining unit.

"Respondent, while initially in favor of the creation of the new position, opposed it once petitioner took the position that the new position, which was supervisory in nature, could not be part of the bargaining unit, based both on traditional labor law principles and the executive order by which MPA was voluntarily recognized," the city wrote in its petition.

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Cunningham pushed back on that Monday, saying the union's main concern was that MPD had violated the MOU. He did, however, say the MPA was "fine" with the second lieutenant rank having supervisory powers and duties, "as long as they would have stayed inside the bargaining unit as sergeants."

Keeping the new rank within the bargaining unit, Cunningham said, would be a way forward in negotiations. He said Memphis Mayor Paul Young has "indicated" that was a possibility.

"We were fine if they were supervisors, but there was a 1984 executive order from the city that prevented it," Cunningham said. "It said supervisors could not be part of a bargaining unit with the association. Mayor Young has indicated that he's open to addressing that, and maybe amending that or creating an exception for police. So there's one way forward there."

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis police union to file counter claim dispute with Memphis PD