The Justice Department has launched a pattern or practice investigation of Memphis and the Memphis Police Department to determine whether the police systemically uses excessive force and discriminates against Black residents, the DOJ announced Thursday (July 27).

This sweeping federal civil rights probe comes more than six months after Memphis officers were seen on video brutally beating Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old unarmed Black motorist. Nichols died three days later from his injuries.

“Every person is entitled to constitutional and non-discriminatory policing in our country,”  Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s civil rights division, said. “Based on an extensive review of publicly available information and information provided to us, there are grounds to open this investigation now.”

The investigation will focus on MPD’s use of force and its stops, searches and arrests, as well as whether it engages in racially discriminatory policing.

Clarke added, “The Justice Department will conduct a thorough and objective investigation into allegations of unlawful discrimination and Fourth Amendment violations. Unlawful policing undermines community trust, which is essential to public safety.”

This investigation is separate and independent from the federal criminal civil rights investigation of the Memphis police officers involved in Nichols’ death.

MPD fired seven officers in connection with the incident. Five of them, all African Americans, were charged with second-degree murder and other offenses.

The five officers charged in Nichols’ death were members of the police department’s SCORPION unit, USA Today reported. It was a special street crimes unit launched in 2021 to combat surging homicide rates that the department disbanded following nationwide outrage.

Antonio Romanucci, Nichols' family attorney, said at that time that the unit was “oppressing the people that we care about the most — our children, our young sons and daughters who are Black and brown — because they are the most vulnerable."

The DOJ said it notified Mayor Jim Stickland, MPD Chief Cerelyn Davis and other local officials prior to announcing the federal probe. They pledged to cooperate with the federal investigation. If the DOJ finds a pattern of civil rights violations, federal authorities can seek a court order that directs Memphis officials to reform policing practices.