Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher will not immediately replace the 11 members of the Street Crimes team who abruptly asked to leave the unit earlier this month, Fletcher said in an email to officers on Saturday.
All but one of the permanent members of the Street Crimes team requested to transfer out of the unit during the first two weeks in October – a unified walk-out that sources say was prompted by a toxic environment between Fletcher’s administration and the team.
Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher speaks at a news conference at the Police Services Center on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn., in the aftermath of a Tuesday night shooting in the 800 block of North Willow Street that killed 20-year-old Frederick Jordan Clark. The department initially planned to transfer the 11 people out of the unit and bring in a new team by the end of October, but Fletcher said that process will be delayed by 30 to 60 days.
“Considering the need to be deliberate about the reorganization of our Gang Investigation and Street Crimes Response functions, we are temporarily suspending the current posting and selection process for the openings in Street Crimes,” Fletcher wrote in the email.
Police supervisors will review the unit’s function, practices and organization, Fletcher said in the email, to develop a “structure and strategy to have the most impact on gang violence in Chattanooga.”
“The process of filling vacancies in this assignment will resume after supervision is completely in place, has reviewed mission, goals and operations and recommended a strategic plan,” he wrote.
It’s unclear in the email how that new “structure and strategy” will impact the city’s Violence Reduction Initiative, which was launched by Mayor Andy Berke in March 2014 with the goal of reducing gang-related gun violence.
The Street Crimes team was a key part of VRI, organizing and executing many of the main pieces of the initiative.
So far this year, the number of gang-related shootings and gun homicides is flat with the last two years: 68 incidents as of Oct. 12, 2013, 60 by that day in 2014 and 62 this year.
There have been 25 homicides so far this year. There were 27 in all of 2014 and 19 in 2013.
Earlier news report: