Departing Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin will become second in command for the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, says the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Godwin, 59, leaves Memphis April 15, and will assume the position as deputy commissioner under Commissioner Bill Gibbons, former Shelby County district attorney, on April 18.
Godwin, 59, will be paid $110,000 and will move to Nashville. He will run the day-to-day operations of the department’s three divisions — the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Homeland Security and the Driver’s License division. He said his Blue CRUSH initiative, credited for a 15 percent drop in serious crime in Memphis over the past four years, received a lot of its useful input from the department’s street officers. “I’m excited about what we two as a team can accomplish,” said Gibbons, whose prosecutors worked closely with the Blue CRUSH campaign by declaring dozens of drug houses public nuisances and shutting them down.