Investigative Services

Deputy Chief: Joe Scott

Colonel: Gerald Perry

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 2008, the Sex Crimes/Juvenile Abuse Squad reviewed 1,613 total cases which included 317 rapes, 149 forcible fondling, and 114 stalking complaints. Sex Crimes reported a clearance rate of 56.9% for rape cases.

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Homicide

The Homicide Bureau is responsible for conducting all investigations related to homicides, suicides, and natural or accidental deaths. In 2008 Memphis recorded 168 homicides compared to 164 in 2007. The Homicide Bureau was able to clear 89% of all homicides in 2008 while the national average is 61.2%. Homicide also made 168 arrests and investigated 2,592 cases.

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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 2008, the DV Unit reviewed 22,083 cases which included 2,040 aggravated assaults and 12,251 simple assaults. The DV Unit arrested 4,561 individuals in 2008 - 3,877 adults and 684 juveniles.

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Missing Persons

The Missing Persons Unit handles all cases involving missing persons and runaways. During 2008, Missing Persons investigators handled 4,032 cases. Of those cases 1,239 were missing persons and 2,793 were runaways.

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Felony Assault

This unit was formed to aggressively investigate aggravated assaults in the same manner as homicides. In 2008, the Felony Assault Unit worked 3,409 aggravated assault cases compared to 3,454 cases in 2007. The Felony Assault Unit (FAU) was able to clear 67.2% of those cases in 2008 compared to 65.3% in 2007. The total workload for the FAU in 2008 was 3,796 cases - a decrease in the 4,085 cases FAU handled in 2007.

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Robbery

This unit investigates robberies citywide, including business and bank robberies. During 2008, the Robbery Squad handled 5,595 complaints – a decrease of 226 complaints from 2007’s total of 5,639. These cases included 502 business robberies, 377 carjackings, 315 home invasion robberies and 9 bank robberies. The Robbery Squad arrested 813 adults and 295 juveniles in 2008. The Robbery Squad‘s 2008 clearance rate was 23.6%.

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Felony Response

This unit handles preliminary investigations of all types of crime classifications. Offenses investigated include: rape, homicide, robbery, burglary, and larceny. In 2008, Felony Response handled 4,720 calls and made 2,975 arrests.

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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 2008, GAB handled 42,527 cases including 5,410 simple assaults, 7,237 shopliftings, 371 weapons offenses, 11,003 vandalisms, 6,531 theft other offenses, 5,039 intimidations, and 6,033 miscellaneous.

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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 2008, investigators handled 6,415 cases, made 441 total arrests and cleared 834 cases for a 13.0% clearance rate.

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Vehicle Theft

Vehicle Theft is responsible for the prompt handling of citizen complaints regarding the theft of vehicles and thefts from vehicles. During 2008, the Vehicle Theft handled 21,027 Part One Crimes and made 1,107 arrests. Of those arrested - 971 were adults and 136 were juveniles. The vehicle recovery rate for 2008 was 87%. The auto theft clearance rate was 24.1% in 2008 up from 23% in 2007.

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Burglary

The Burglary Squad is responsible for investigating residential and business burglaries, as well as, all theft of interstate shipments. The Burglary Bureau handled 15,311 assigned cases - 11,946 residential burglaries, 2,353 business burglaries, and 1,012 non-residential burglaries - and made 1,275 arrests during 2008. The clearance rate for the Unit’s total case load was 9.58%.

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Crime Scene

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 2008, CSI employees responded to 3,667 calls for police service, took 70,147 photographs, made 1,404 evidence inventories, lifted 15,676 latent fingerprints and compared 75,095 latent fingerprints.