Written By Reginald Hubbard

For too long, Shelby County has been divided in ways that make us less safe, not more secure. A change for the better starts with breaking down those divisions and getting back to working together, the way we used to when results were better for everyone. I am running for Sheriff because I believe this county can be safer, fairer, and more united than it is today—and I know how to help lead us there.

When I talk about a “change for the better,” I am talking first about how law enforcement works together in Shelby County. Years ago, our best results came when the Sheriff’s Office and every municipality—Memphis, Collierville, Germantown, Millington, Bartlett, and others—worked side by side instead of acting like separate worlds. I remember some of my best days in this job riding in patrol cars with officers from Collierville, Germantown, and Millington, working the same problems, sharing information, and building relationships that made it harder for crime to hide. Somewhere along the way, we drifted away from that spirit of collaboration, and you can see the consequences in the frustration and fear people feel today.

Crime does not respect lines on a map. No zip code in Shelby County is truly isolated from what is happening in the rest of the county. We sometimes talk as if the problem is only “over there” in one neighborhood or one part of town, but the truth is no area can rise above the overall conditions of Shelby County. If we want safer streets in one community, we have to lift conditions across the whole county. That means understanding that we are all in this together and committing to work as one community instead of pointing fingers and pretending the problem belongs to someone else.

My first responsibility as Sheriff will be to serve as the chief ambassador for public safety in Shelby County. The Sheriff’s Office should be the number one example of what good law enforcement looks like: professional, accountable, collaborative, and focused on solutions, not excuses. Over my 36 years with the Sheriff’s Office, this agency was often a model that others around the country came to study. We had programs, policies, and practices that drew attention from outside Shelby County because they worked and because they reflected real leadership. Somehow, we lost that edge, and new ideas stopped coming. I am running to restore that leadership tradition and make the Sheriff’s Office a beacon again.

Leadership starts with taking responsibility. I have worked under six different sheriffs, and every single one of them faced some version of the challenges you see today—budget pressures, disagreements with the County Mayor, and tension over who should do what. But there was one constant: they took ownership of the jail and of their duties. They did not pass the buck. They did not try to hand off their core responsibilities to someone else when things got hard. When problems arose, they went to work, made adjustments, and moved the facility and the office forward.

Right now, we see public debates about who is responsible for the jail at 201 Poplar and what is happening inside those walls. Let me be clear: the elected Sheriff is responsible for that facility. The safety, conditions, operations, and outcomes inside that jail belong to the Sheriff, not the County Mayor, not the Commission, not anyone else. That does not mean there will never be disagreements about funding or policy, but it does mean the Sheriff has to step up, accept that the buck stops with him, and lead. As Sheriff, I will not try to hand off that duty; I will own it.

One of the biggest problems we face today in both the jail and law enforcement operations is staffing. In 2018, when the current Sheriff took office, we were down about 200 employees. Now, when you combine the jail and law enforcement, we are down closer to 500 positions. You cannot run a safe, secure, humane jail or provide strong law enforcement services when you are that far understaffed. I do not care how many policies you write or how many plans you talk about; if you do not have trained, supported people to carry them out, nothing changes. As Sheriff, recruiting, training, and retaining qualified staff will be a top priority because nothing else works without people.

Staffing is not just about numbers; it is also about culture. Over time, systems can be damaged by nepotism, cronyism, and poor management decisions that place the wrong people in the wrong positions for the wrong reasons. When that happens, morale drops, good people leave, and accountability breaks down. I have seen the effects of that inside the jail, and I know we cannot fix our problems if we keep doing business that way. A change for the better means promoting based on merit, enforcing standards fairly, and providing serious, ongoing training that prepares our officers and deputies for the communities they serve.

That same sense of responsibility and accountability extends to the serious incidents you have heard about inside the jail, including deaths in custody and the recent case involving a paralyzed man who recorded the conditions around him on a cell phone. Cases like that are painful for families, for the community, and for the many officers who come to work every day trying to do things the right way. They raise legitimate questions about safety, supervision, and whether we are living up to our obligations.

When a phone gets inside a jail, that is contraband. The first question leadership must ask is not only, “What did the inmate do with the phone?” but also, “How did that phone get there in the first place?” That points directly to procedures, training, and supervision. In a well-run facility, supervisors on every shift are making rounds, checking on people, and making sure medical needs are addressed before they become emergencies. When that does not happen, it is a leadership failure, and it has to be confronted honestly. I welcome citizens and advocacy groups who raise concerns about what is happening inside the jail, because their voices help push us toward improvement. As Sheriff, I will not run from that accountability; I will invite it.

Public safety is not just about what happens inside the jail or inside a patrol car. It is about what people feel in their neighborhoods—whether they feel safe letting their children play outside, whether churches and small businesses feel protected, whether seniors feel seen and supported, and whether every community believes law enforcement is working with them, not against them. Real safety looks like collaboration between law enforcement and the community. The deputies who patrol our streets should reflect our communities and be among the most courteous, respectful, and service‑minded people in Shelby County.

That is why I am committed to true community policing and serious cultural training for every officer. We cannot assume that a 21‑year‑old coming out of the academy automatically understands the history, culture, and concerns of every neighborhood in this county. Some have never spent real time in the communities they will patrol. If we want respect, we must build understanding. That means training our officers about the communities they serve—Black, Hispanic, white, Jewish, LGBTQ+, and others—and making sure they know the people, the customs, and the issues they are walking into. When we have done this kind of targeted training in the past, as we did after a major incident involving the LGBTQ+ community, it improved relationships and reduced conflict. We can and must do that again, across the board.

Finally, a change for the better must address the pipeline that leads too many of our young people from school to jail. As adults, we often talk about what kids are not doing, but we rarely ask what assignments we have given them. Young people need structure, expectations, and opportunities. When kids are not taking out the trash, mowing the lawn, making their beds, or given responsibilities at home and in the community, we leave a vacuum that other influences quickly fill. At the same time, we are seeing serious problems with drugs and overdoses in our schools, where several students may experiment with the same dangerous substance. We need evidence‑based programs in our schools, and we need a Sheriff’s Office that is not just writing tickets and making arrests, but also educating, mentoring, and showing up in a positive way.

In the past, there was an “officer friendly” presence in schools that helped young people see law enforcement as people, not just as uniforms that appear in a crisis. Today, many of our children only encounter officers when something has gone wrong, and they are bombarded with images and stories—many of them real, some of them exaggerated—that teach them to see every badge as bad. Parents are no longer the only or primary influence; peers and the broader culture often speak louder. If we want to change that, we have to go where the influence is and build new relationships from the outside in.

I am running for Sheriff because I know Shelby County can do better than this. With honest leadership, real collaboration, strong accountability, and a renewed commitment to our young people, we can make this a safer place for every family in every zip code. That is the change for the better I am asking you to join me in creating.