National Guard not needed in Memphis, former police director says
President Donald Trump announced in a Friday, Sept. 12, television appearance that he would send the National Guard to Memphis. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
One of the last times the National Guard was called into Memphis, the city was a different place.
It was the summer of 1978. Simultaneous police and fire union strikes and a city-wide blackout prompted late Memphis Mayor Wyeth Chandler to declare a civil emergency and call in the guard.
The power of the state military force was helpful and needed then, according to Buddy Chapman, who was director of the Memphis Police Department at the time. But with recent news that the guard is making a return to the Bluff City, Chapman said he feels differently this time around.
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Aarron Fleming
Once an intern, he never left, joining the staff full-time in 2022 as an education reporter. He moved to public safety in 2023, where he covered some of the city’s biggest court cases, including the criminal trials for those charged in the deaths of Tyré Nichols and rapper Young Dolph. He also chronicled the Shelby County Jail and the deaths that have occurred at the facility.
He now provides suburban coverage, focusing on DeSoto County and the surrounding municipalities.
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