Former President of the Police Association, 21-year Memphis Police Veteran, and Community Advocate Mike Williams tells it like it is on politics, community policing, and the potential of our city.

Hi Mike! Welcome to Bluff City Magazine Issue 17! It is an honor to converse with you.  Please introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m currently the Chief Administrative Officer for the General Sessions Courts. Native Memphian, educated in the public school system. I love the city of Memphis. Married with five kids and a host of grandkids and great-grandkids.

Most people know you in your former role as the President of the Police Association. You stepped down in 2020. Describe your role as the president of the association while you were there.

As the President of the Memphis Police Association, I was over the 27th largest police association/union in the United States. At one point, we had 2,500 officers. We got down to about 1,900 prior to my leaving. As the President of the Police Association, I was responsible for ensuring the police officers were given a fair shake to represent them during negotiations. We had a defense legal fund in case there was some controversy in regard to something that they did while on duty only.

In 2011, '12, and '13, the City took 4.6 million from the police officers. We were able to get that back for them. Then, they took the pension from the retirees and changed the health care for the retirees. The city said that we would never be able to get it back. And we did! We actually did something that no one had ever done. I went to the city council and asked them to restore it because even then, I told them we would have problems in the future if we continued down this road.

But quite naturally, that was something that they did not want to hear. I was told, hey, Mr. Williams, suck it up and drive on. We got with the fire association and took to the streets ourselves. We got 140,000 signatures and had our referendum put on the ballot, the public safety referendum for road paving, and the restoration of benefits for public safety for our police officers and firemen at that time. Now, that fund generates anywhere from $54 to $72 million a year residually, thanks to the citizens of the City of Memphis. A lot of the things that you see the city doing now for police officers is that they restored the health care benefits for the retirees until age 65. They actually put the pension plan back the way it was.

You spent 21 years as an officer. What is your perception of the “climate” now?

Look, I'm scared. I have to watch how I move. You know what I'm saying? It's not because I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what someone may make me do to them because I'm out here, and many people know me; they walk up to me. Thank God, many of these young cats show me nothing but respect. Because hopefully, when I was an officer, I always showed them respect. I probably talked more people into the squad car than I had to fight people into the squad car. I believe in community policing: you get to know people. I worked in Orange Mound for a very long time, and I never had a whole lot of problems in that community. I built relationships with the community. I built relationships with the mothers, fathers, and grandparents out there. I would go up to Mill Road School and walk through there. To have community policing, we have to have more police officers. At the height of Herenton's tenure, we had 2,500 offices - but now we're much lower.

As a Chief Administrative Officer, what does your role consist of?

We're the largest court system in the state of Tennessee, under clerk Joe W. Brown, who used to be on the city council. When he won in 2020, he asked me to come over and work for him. We have approximately 160-plus employees. We have nine criminal divisions at 201 Poplar. We have one bail hearing room and six civil divisions over at 140 Adams, which is the Civil Court. We have two satellite offices, one at Southbrook Mall and one at Mullins Station. I'm currently running operations for that, and I've been doing it for the last three years.

You were running for Court Clerk, but they removed that position from the Ballet this past election.

In 1975, the citizens voted to take the Court Clerk from under the mayor because it collects a lot of money, and they wanted to ensure that there was no wrongdoing. But the city is saying now that they never included it in the charter the way it should.

I thought it was crazy because I'm like, why don't you just put it in the charter? The citizens have already voted. They're saying they will put it on the ballot to see if the citizens want to make it an independent office for the next election. This is how we get around doing things in this city. I think it's egregious. I think it's just an abomination. It's another way to suppress the people in this city because what they're going to do now is put it back under the mayor until then, and the mayor gets to appoint the individuals who are going to leave that office.  But that's what the citizens said they didn't want. For 43 years, that's the way it's been.

I ran for mayor in 2015, and many people asked Mike, “Why are you doing that?” But in my spirit, I ran because God had put it on my heart. I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish, believe it or not, because even though I didn't win, I knew at that time we could not stand another four years of AC Warden. I don't think he's a bad guy. I know him. I know his wife. I was not too fond of his politics. And just as he did in the county, he took all the benefits away. I can't just be on the sidelines all the time, and I can't just be talking about it.  I was in the military for 21 years and with the police department for 21 years, so my patriotic duty is to step up to the plate.

How can we be greater outside of politics?

In politics, we have to elect people who represent their constituency. For the longest, we've had the majority of African Americans on the city council. At some point, we've had a black mayor in the city, a black mayor in the county, and the majority on the county commission. Why are we sitting here saying there's no redevelopment in our communities? There's no reinvestment in our communities? Is that possibly because the individuals we elect do not represent the constituency that has voted for them? We continuously vote for individuals who have no love for our community back into office. So, we have to hold our politicians accountable.

State Representative Karen Camper and I started a foundation called the Humble Hearts Foundation, where we helped the Youth with their business ideas and how to run the operations behind them. We were both warrant officers in the United States Army and served overseas together. We wanted to give back to the community when we returned to Memphis, and that's exactly what we did.

How does politics play a role in the improvement of our Youth?

State Representative Karen Camper and I started a foundation called the Humble Hearts Foundation, where we helped the Youth with their business ideas and how to run the operations behind them. We were both warrant officers in the United States Army and served overseas together. We wanted to give back to the community when we returned to Memphis, and that's exactly what we did.

We need to advocate for our young people. But we also have to say that we have a problem right now with our young people, and it's going to take some drastic measures to be able to correct a lot of those things. We give Carlyle $95 million. We invest in Crosstown. We invest here, and we invest there. But we don't invest in people. We don't invest in our youth. How can we be a city this size, and we don't have something to engage our youth? If you want to take your kids to a water park, you have to go to Magic Springs or Nashville Shores.

Mike, you are a true advocate for our city. Any last words for the people?

Well, I want to say that I love this city and think it has so much potential, but it's left up to us to bring it to fruition and make it the city it can be and once was.

When we didn't have the rights many people are afforded today, our communities were clean and close-knit. We definitely instilled the ability of our young people to dream, aspire, hope, and reach for those dreams and hopes. We supported them, and we held them up. We must get back to doing those things because everyone talks about crime. Memphis has the world-famous Beale Street. Memphis still owns its own utility company. Memphis produces natural gas that they provide to the TVA. Memphis has a river port that is being utilized to ship cargo up and down to Mississippi, which is very vital. Memphis is the transportation hub. We have DHL, UPS, and the world-famous FedEx.

Memphis has the Brooks Museum, the Riverfront, and Shelby Farms. I can go on and on and on. Memphis has an NBA team. These are all the things that Memphis has that belong to the citizens of this city. I mean, so many great things in this city that people from all over this region come to Memphis to enjoy. We just got to protect it. We have to get back to the basics: investing in people.

But we have to be thinking multifacetedly and not just in one vein. We have to get those individuals who are judiciary responsible for our dollars to understand that we matter too.

You have to start investing in the people. When people feel a sense of self-worth a sense of pride, then they want to do better. They want to be better.