A missing 14-year-old girl was rescued from a drug-filled motel room in Memphis on Monday night in what police are investigating as a child trafficking incident. The man found with the child was arrested and taken away by a swath of federal, state, and local police on site.That man is among roughly 10,600 people who have been arrested in Memphis by the Memphis Safe Task Force in its nine months of operation in America’s most crime-ridden city, according to Gadyaces Serralta, the government official overseeing the operation.“As recent as last night, we’re still recovering juveniles,” said Serralta, executive director for the U.S. Marshals Service and head of the task force, in an interview with the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.
The Memphis Safe Task Force. (U.S. Marshals Service)
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
