Soros-Funded DA Takes Aim At Task Force Bringing Peace, Transparency To Major City  

(Photo  AUSTIN JOHNSON)

As the Memphis Safe Task Force reaches its first anniversary Tuesday, local families and Republican leaders are petitioning against the county’s district attorney, who is challenging the task force in court.

Memphis mother and journalist Dalisia Ballinger told the Daily Caller that Shelby County DA Steve Mulroy is “one of the worst DAs that we’ve had,” accusing him of systematically dropping charges and “freeing criminals back on the street” while suing to block state legislation designed to keep his office accountable.

The video player is currently playing an ad.The task force was established by President Donald Trump through an executive order last year, designating more than a dozen agencies to work with state and local officials to “end street and violent crime in Memphis.”

By May, Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed the Memphis Safe Task Force Accountability Act into law.

Ballinger told the Caller that the task force’s efforts to crack down on crime have worked, explaining that she went from never leaving the house to being comfortable letting her kids play outside in no time.

“There was a time when I just wanted to go pick weeds in my backyard, and gunshots were whizzing behind my back, and I had to crawl on my hands and knees back to my house for safety,” she said. “We went from hearing gunshots on the daily to hearing complete silence within weeks.”

At the time, Ballinger was a Democrat, but couldn’t help but share the stark difference she had seen on her private social media since the task force got involved.

“I was a hard liberal, hard Democrat,” she said regarding her decision to post the video to social media. “But when he actually did something and put our neighborhood first and put our kids first, I had to give credit where it was due.”

However, the video gained traction, and Ballinger was fired from her position as a reporter, she told the Caller.

But it wouldn’t take long for the mother to leave the party behind, sitting next to Trump during a visit only 5 months later.

“It was one of the best days of my family’s life,” Ballinger said.

Though anecdotal, her sentiment matches the numbers released by the Trump administration Tuesday in celebration of the anniversary.

The task force has made 12,747 arrests, including 131 for homicide and 125 for sex offenses, since its inception. Crime in Memphis has dropped by 36 percent from last year, including a 36 percent dip in murders, a 57 percent drop in motor vehicle thefts, and 42 and 44 percent drops in robberies and shoplifting, respectively

Even in Mulroy’s county, violent crime has dropped more than 30 percent, while major property crime is down more than 40 percent, the president’s numbers showed.

Yet Mulroy seeks to end the task force through a lawsuit, arguing that the governor’s task force accountability law challenges the independence of locally elected prosecutors, enforces reporting already required through other channels, and targets his office specifically.

In response, Ballinger, Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, state Sen. Brent Taylor, state Rep. John Gillespie, several national police and victims’ groups, and nearly 10,000 others have signed a change.org petition aiming to — as its title states — “Stop Memphis DA From Protecting Criminals.”

The petition contends that the transparency requirements found in the law act as a check on local prosecutors — like Mulroy— from releasing violent criminals back into the street without pursuing charges.

“The people of Memphis asked for transparency. Their DA went to court to take it away,” the petition argues.

Mulroy — who has received over $600,000 from funders backed by left-wing billionaire and progressive mega-donor George Soros, according to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund — has been accused of dropping and lessening criminal charges brought against many of those arrested by the task force, Ballinger told the Caller, adding that “Our public safety should not be up for debate.”

The petition echoes Ballinger’s sentiments, stating, “Memphis families should not have to wonder which criminals walked. They should not have to guess how many task force cases got quietly dropped or settled.”

Before receiving his position in 2022, Mulroy campaigned on offering alternatives to cash bail and opposed mass incarceration. Once in office, he fired nine attorneys and hired seven more, according to The Stars News Network, while bragging that it would “bring our office closer to better representing the full diversity of our community.” (