[7] Memphis police officers Thomas Waterson and Sergeant William Raney captured George "Machine Gun" Kelly in 1933.

The first African American officers were hired in 1948, twenty years before the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis which sparked riots and curfews across the city.

[8] In 2006, a court ruled the 2002 test violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and "28 plaintiffs with passing exam scores and sufficient work experience were promoted".

1992 saw Eddie B. Adair named the first African American chief of police In 1992, Sergeant Jim Nichols, assigned to MPD Research & Development, formed a non-profit organization that raised money to allow MPD to become one of the first law enforcement agencies in Tennessee to utilize computers in a networks systems, where each detective, as well as the executive administration, had a computer on their desk to assist in writing up reports, running background checks, send and receive an email as well as other administrative needs relating to law enforcement.

In June 2013, Officer Brandon Berry was charged with forcing men to have sex with him in exchange for not arresting them on outstanding warrants.

In August 2012, while driving his official vehicle at more than ninety miles an hour without lights or a siren, he struck another car, killing a woman and her daughter.

[14] In July 2014, hundreds of policemen called in sick apparently to protest the city reducing pay by 4.6 percent while giving millions of dollars to private entities.

[17] The same year, MPD was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee for violating a 1978 decree by surveilling on citizens for political purposes.

[18][19] In late 2020, retired African- American MPD Homicide Investigator Eric Kelly was charged with having a sexual relationship with a murder suspect.

[24] In 2023, Following the killing of Tyre Nichols, the SCORPION unit was disbanded,[21] by Police Chief Davis who also terminated the employment of five associated officers.