The Tennessee Star on Wednesday exclusively obtained a video released by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who urged Congress to pass her Restoring Law and Order Act to provide relief to cities like Memphis, which the senator argued suffers from ill-conceived restorative justice schemes and soft-on-crime judges.
Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) joined the senator’s Restoring Law and Order Act, which was reintroduced in May. The bill would authorize new grant funding for local law enforcement to hire and retain officers, combat child trafficking, and emphasize “public safety tools like bail and pretrial detention” to disallow accused criminals the opportunity to commit additional offenses.
The legislation would also redirect leftover Inflation Reduction Act funds and any Department of Justice funding spent on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives to law enforcement.
“Cashless bail. You hear the term; it means these criminals are back out on the streets immediately,” she said.
Blackburn explained in the video, “We’ve seen it here in Tennessee, in Memphis. Crime is rising 50 percent.”
The video revealed Blackburn met with Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Coffey, who underscored her arguments about crime and cashless bail.
“When someone goes out and breaks the law there should be more accountability,” said Coffey. He later told Blackburn, “It just empowers the criminal element.”
Blackburn said the “presence of crime” remains a top issue for Tennessee families.
“These are the things that really have a lot of families concerned, that presence of crime. What is driving that?” the senator asked.
Blackburn answered, “Cashless bail policies. The fact that these criminals are apprehended, then you have prosecutors and judges that let them out immediately.”
Blackburn stated, “We need to be fully funding, not defunding, law enforcement.”
She explained, “My Restoring Law and Order Act would get those resources right to those local law enforcement agencies. That’s where the help is needed.”
A spokesman for Blackburn noted to The Star that Blackburn’s remarks about the bail practices seen in Memphis and Shelby County are especially noteworthy after the recent decision by Shelby County Judge Bill Anderson to release a suspect accused of shooting four on a $500,000 bond.
Anderson publicly stated his opposition to Tennessee’s bail system and local bonding companies in September 2023, when he declared, “I detest the bail bond system in Shelby County, I detest it across this state.”
The judge also claimed bond companies “don’t do anything but collect money from poor people” in public remarks that sparked a public reprimand from the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct (BJC) earlier this year.
Watch the full video:
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
A somewhat off the topic question but… Why should federal dollars go to local law enforcement?