Officials from the city, state, and federal government entered into a partnership last fall to take on crime in the western Tennessee city, where the per capita crime rate surpassed all other U.S. cities prior to the task force’s work. It meant Democrats and Republicans, as well as beat cops and federal agents, were teaming up with a common goal: Improve public safety, not just for a few months, but long-term.

The joint effort has led to nearly 10,600 arrests since Sept. 30, 2025, including 100 homicide arrests and the recovery of 55 missing people and children, including the child found on Monday. Serralta said the nearly 10,600 arrests were made by the task force’s members, meaning they do not include arrests made by local and state police.

Serralta offered a look inside the operation, including how officers look for crime, how the task force has achieved high prosecution rates, and plans to expand this footprint to other cities.

Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) said the collaboration between Memphis, Nashville, and Washington has led to a “generational opportunity” to address crime.

“Every Memphian deserves to feel safe in their community, and through state, local, and federal partnerships, the Memphis Safe Task Force has created a generational opportunity that is delivering remarkable results to enhance public safety and improve quality of life,” Lee said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

How it came about

Memphis was under federal pressure to reform policing practices in the early 2020s after a Justice Department investigation revealed a pattern of officers going after black drivers in traffic stops and using unnecessary force during encounters, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee. The city vowed to address the problem and the broader soaring crime levels.

The Memphis Safe Task Force was modeled after a similar initiative in Washington, D.C., that began in August 2025 following an announcement by President Donald Trump.

The effort brought together a swath of police agencies, including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, IRS, Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Memphis Police Department, and the National Guard.

Teams on the street every day are comprised of local, state, and federal police. Immigration enforcement is not the focus of the task force.

The Marshals Service is known for tracking down fugitives. In his role overseeing the task force, Serralta explained that agents and officers from various agencies are focused on all types of crime and are pursuing it through everything from conducting traffic stops for expired registration to responding to emergency calls and searching for wanted individuals.

“We monitor the police radio. We respond to in-progress calls and burglary calls, assault charges, assault calls, battery calls,” Serralta said. “We respond to everything that we can possibly respond to as a task force, so that we’re split up into the districts. We get there first, and you know, the smoke’s still coming out of the guns, you know, the knife wielder’s still holding the knife in many cases. So we are witnessing and apprehending individuals shortly after the crime is committed.”

When the federal-state-local task force was set up by the White House last fall, the city was not enforcing basic traffic violations, such as expired registration tags or broken taillights, so that was where the task force began, Serralta said.

“We created a line that I personally witnessed going around out of the clerk’s office, where they do tags. Out and around the block, right, because that was the impact that we had,” Serralta said. “You can no longer not register your car, right. And what we found is that good people had not been registering their car, and bad people definitely weren’t registered, but when THP starts giving citations on [failure to register], MPD as well, that triggers the good folks to go out and get their tags. So, what do we have left? Bad guys that haven’t gotten their tags, so simple traffic stops.”

Where it goes next

Compared to before the task force hit the ground last October, Serralta reported a 43% decline in homicides, 33% decline in sexual assaults, 50% decline in robberies, and 32% decline in aggravated assaults.

The task force’s success extends beyond police statistics. Serralta said the task force has been able to refer many cases to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee. At present, the U.S. attorney’s office is six indictments from surpassing the total indictments reached in 2023 and 2024 combined, compared to the nine months that the task force has been on the ground.

• Plans are in place to transition the task force to a permanent state-led model with continued federal support and resources.

“Tennessee has a state legislature and a governor and a congressman and senators that care, and a mayor that cares,” Serralta said. “The mayor there, which is not a Republican, right, cares about his people, though, right? So we have a good working relationship with the mayor.”

The approach is being considered for expansion to other cities, depending on local requests and support, including at Trump’s urging.

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“I can tell you that [Trump] has mentioned going to other cities, and we will, I’m sure we will. Where we go next? It largely relies upon, you know, who asks for it, right?” Serralta said.

“We’re grateful for [the] Trump administration’s leadership and the unprecedented collaboration between the U.S. Marshals and our state and local law enforcement partners, whose commitment to public safety will continue to make a meaningful difference in Memphis long beyond the task force operation,” Lee said.