RIP Tyre Nichols

[BobbyStrawberry]

What a horrible way to have ones life needlessly taken. It's a sad moment for this country and I hope things can change for the better. And I recommend not watching the video unless you have a strong stomach.

[BCauley]

The video was rough to watch. I can’t even begin to imagine the level of fear that was going through his mind. I wonder how many other people this group terrorized.

[Casey2296]

Such an avoidable tragedy and from the reports a waste of a good human being by 5 not so good humans.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

Such an avoidable tragedy and from the reports a waste of a good human being by 5 not so good humans.

+1 agree and that video was disgusting and I hope those 5 people truly pay the price

[todeen]

NYT said the EMTs were fired, and I wonder if charges will be filed against them as well. Sad. It was tough reading the NYT edited transcript.

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[Jim65]

Some people don't deserve to wear a badge, period.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Jim65

Some people don't deserve to wear a badge, period.

They need to be in jail, as they will be.
.

[Exhibitman]

One of my clients is a sheriff and he told me last week that he and his colleagues hate these cases because the bad cops involved make the good cops look bad. He said that these sorts of fatalities are more common in smaller departments because the biggest departments have learned from past mistakes and train much more extensively now on use of appropriate force. The George Floyd killing was clearly a case of improper training and/or performance, he said, because you are trained not to sit on a suspect unless he is trying to flee.

[Hxcmilkshake]

When's it gonna end?

I know its a tough, brutal, thankless job.

But geez go be a bodyguard or something

Some shouldn't be cops, some shouldn't be parents. Unfortunately so many pay the price because of it

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[Mark17]

There are many thousands of police officers in this country, so it's inevitable at least a handful will be murderers. I'm not excusing it or rationalizing it. It's a math thing. There are murders committed by accountants, dermatologists, plumbers, shoe salesmen, realtors, and people employed in law enforcement.

Difference is, when it's a cop it gets national spotlight headlines, as it should, because police are legally empowered to use force, so when they abuse their authority, it is a serious breakdown in our civilization.

My point is, there are lots of murders every day in this country, but nobody ever says, "Geez, another murder by a mailman."

[Hxcmilkshake]

Originally Posted by Mark17

There are many thousands of police officers in this country, so it's inevitable at least a handful will be murderers. I'm not excusing it or rationalizing it. It's a math thing. There are murders committed by accountants, dermatologists, plumbers, shoe salesmen, realtors, and people employed in law enforcement.

Difference is, when it's a cop it gets national spotlight headlines, as it should, because police are legally empowered to use force, so when they abuse their authority, it is a serious breakdown in our civilization.

My point is, there are lots of murders every day in this country, but nobody ever says, "Geez, another murder by a mailman."

I just wonder what's in those 5 officers minds...this crap came to light with Rodney King....you wear BODY CAMERAS....theres STREET CAMERAS all over.... everyone has a cell phone... theres so much scutiny around what they do....yet you're gonna wail on a guy while he's handcuffed??

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[chalupacollects]

A sad result of the defund the police movement. Memphis decided to defund the police not by cutting funding or budgets but by taking away the pensions/retirement accounts of the officers. Thus, hundreds of experienced officers retired leaving a serious leadership gap of experienced officers and supervisors. So basically, these guys were out on their own with little or no supervision. Now Memphis is currently down 700+ officers so you can see the plight and frustration of the police not to mention that Memphis is one of the worst cities in the USA in terms of crime statistics. Watching that video, these clowns were looking to give a beatdown to the first unlucky person they came across. Hopefully they get life terms in general pop...

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by chalupacollects

A sad result of the defund the police movement. Memphis decided to defund the police not by cutting funding or budgets but by taking away the pensions/retirement accounts of the officers. Thus, hundreds of experienced officers retired leaving a serious leadership gap of experienced officers and supervisors. So basically, these guys were out on their own with little or no supervision. Now Memphis is currently down 700+ officers so you can see the plight and frustration of the police not to mention that Memphis is one of the worst cities in the USA in terms of crime statistics. Watching that video, these clowns were looking to give a beatdown to the first unlucky person they came across. Hopefully they get life terms in general pop...

Your first sentence has it backwards. The calls to "defund the police" were/are a response to a system that has failed to prevent events like this from happening over and over again.

The formation and publicization of "elite" units like SCORPION in Memphis (the members of which killed Nichols and which has now, thankfully, been disbanded) are short-sighted political acts intended to make it look like leaders are "tough on crime" - but the truth is that these teams are, as you say, inadequately supervised, typically attract the worst police officers, and disproportionately target residents of poor black neighborhoods. There is much evidence that these units (in Memphis and elsewhere) actually do more harm than good.

[todeen]

Defund the Police was poorly named. I understood it as reallocate $$$ from XYZ to provide better training in psychological handling (SPED, OD, Suicide) and to hire more counselors and therapists. We have asked police to take on a much larger societal/cultural role than they are adequately prepared to handle. (Very similar situation to teachers)

In Spokane, we had our own tragic death in 2006, of a developely disabled man, Otto Zehm, who went to a local Quik-E-Mart for a chocolate bar, but was killed after a mistaken identity and refusing arrest. Our city covered it up. So many blunders by people in authority. Then in the past 5 years we had a suicide by cop event, in which our cops tazed a man to death who was already suicidal. He needed mental help, and they reacted like he was a danger to society.

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[packs]

Proper vetting may have eliminated each of these people from candidacy to become a police officer. I do think there are a lot of cops on the job who maybe aren't the best suited for it. There are many different consequences to their presence on the force, this being the most extreme and tragic. I think vetting is a serious issue among candidacy and I would think there are opportunities to improve the process and eliminate bad candidates before these traits surface on the job.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by packs

Proper vetting may have eliminated each of these people from candidacy to become a police officer. I do think there are a lot of cops on the job who maybe aren't the best suited for it. There are many different consequences to their presence on the force, this being the most extreme and tragic. I think vetting is a serious issue among candidacy and I would think there are opportunities to improve the process and eliminate bad candidates before these traits surface on the job.

^^^Yes, this. ^^^

So many that really aren't cut out for the work, too agressive, too twitchy, and more.

[irv]

Originally Posted by steve B

^^^Yes, this. ^^^

So many that really aren't cut out for the work, too agressive, too twitchy, and more.

It's not like there is a huge lineup anymore to become police officers.
There are a variety of reasons why many now are quitting, retiring early or thinking entirely of a different career path.
The defunding of the police movement is just "one" of the reasons, but there are many many more.
I know quite a few cops here in my region and this early parole thing is another one that has really gotten to them. They bust their hump to arrest these criminals then see them back out on the street again in short order. It goes on and on, sadly, and it is getting worse, not better.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/colum...-public-safety
https://torontosun.com/opinion/colum...-for-canadians
https://torontosun.com/opinion/colum...-violent-crime

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Y
The formation and publicization of "elite" units like SCORPION in Memphis (the members of which killed Nichols and which has now, thankfully, been disbanded) are short-sighted political acts intended to make it look like leaders are "tough on crime"

First off, what an absolutely moronic name to call a unit of policemen who are sworn to protect and serve. It sounds like this unit was nothing more than a bunch of bad cops beating the shit out of anyone and everyone. Just three days before they killed Nichols they beat the hell out of another guy who they snuck up on in an apartment parking lot. They didn't identify themselves as cops and he thought he was getting jumped so he tried to flee and they beat him. That's going to be many more millions of dollars out of the pockets of Memphis citizens.

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

First off, what an absolutely moronic name to call a unit of policemen who are sworn to protect and serve.

They didn't beat anyone to death but the 'Red Dog Unit' was disbanded soon after this sordid event in Atlanta over a decade ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Eagle_police_raid