Darren Goods

Dimple Dudley

Deputy Commissioner, Juvenile Justice
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Darren M. Goods joined the Department of Children's Services in February of 2021 as the Deputy Commissioner of Juvenile Justice. Prior to joining DCS, Mr. Goods served the citizens of Memphis and Shelby County for more than 35 years with the Memphis Police Department (MPD). He began his career with MPD in 1985 and retired this past November. In June 2019, Darren was appointed to the rank of Colonel and reassigned as the Commander of the MPD’s Investigative Services Bureaus.

Darren served in various capacities within MPD, including the Uniform Patrol, Robbery Bureau, FBI Safe Streets Task Force, ATF Project Safe Neighborhood Task Force, FBI Tarnish Blue Task Force (now Tarnish Badge Task Force), Organized Crime Unit Major Violators Team, the Homicide Bureau, Ridgeway Station General Investigative Bureau and the Violent Crimes Unit (VCU), which he developed and created. He is also the past Operations Commander for the Multi-Agency Gang Unit.

Having worked with children and youth throughout his career, in both his role as a law enforcement officer and on his own time as a volunteer, Darren brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to DCS. He helped create a basketball team for mostly inner-city youth ages 14-19. As the coach for the Memphis Panthers Youth Basketball for 10 years, Darren helped mentor and served as a role model for dozens of young men both on and off the court. He required every player to maintain good grades. Darren is proud to say every youth who stuck with the program graduated from high school and several actually got the chance to play college basketball.

Darren is a past board member of AGAPE Means Love Children and Family Services and serves as a current board member of LeMoyne-Owen College Criminal Justice Advisory Committee. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from LeMoyne-Owen College with a Cum Laude Distinction. He also served in the United States Marine Corps and is a proud graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Academy.