Posted on 01/27/2023 8:22:09 AM PST by BenLurkin
Some of the five ex-officers in Memphis charged with the murder of Tyre Nichols were part of an elite crime-fighting unit that is now under scrutiny.
Scorpion - which stands for "Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods" - is a 50-person unit with the mission of bringing down crime levels in particular areas.
The police chief has now ordered a review of all specialised police units.
This is not the first time the Scorpion unit has attracted controversy.
It was launched in October 2021 with a focus on high-impact crimes such as car thefts and gang-related offences.
But some community activists say its focus on hot spots within the city contributes to officers' bias and brutality.
"They were in unmarked cars, why are they conducting traffic stops?"
"The Scorpion unit was involved," Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said on Thursday at a news conference as he announced the charges against the fired officers.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis, the first black woman to serve in that role for the city, said a day before charges were filed in the Tyre Nichols case that the Scorpion unit - and all specialised police units - would undergo a review.
The Scorpion programme was touted by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland in a speech a year ago. He said the city used crime data "to determine where the unit will conduct its enforcement activities within the city".
From October 2021 until January 2022, the unit made 566 arrests, he said. They also seized over $100,000 in cash, 270 vehicles and 253 weapons.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
No, the family of the victim was worth that and they are moving to Virginia. Bye Memphis!
Geez, the MPD looks like the kind of people who you want to call the police about.
Antonio Romanucci - a lawyer for the family of Mr. [Tyre] Nichols, who was black - accused the unit of misconduct in the latest incident.
"They were in unmarked cars, why are they conducting traffic stops?" he told CBS, the BBC's US partner.
"This is a pretextual traffic stop, which, let's call it what it is, it's a racist traffic stop."
It remains unclear how many of the officers, who [pulled over Tyre Nichols] are all black, were part of the Memphis Police Department's Scorpion unit.
So ... a number of officers, all of whom are black, pull over a black man.
An unknown number of the officers who pulled him over are on the Scorpion unit.
The traffic stop was, therefore, racially motivated according to the lawyer.
Oooooh-kay! Seems rather clear cut to me.
I wonder what race Tyre Nichols became after he "was black".
Eliza Fletcher’s murder a few months ago cost the city $3,000,000,000...the whole family is moving.
3 BILLION? Wha? How?
Defund the police. Demonize the police. Condemn the police. Remove any support from the local government. Remove any support from the community. And these are the type of people willing to be cops.
Portland got rid of their street crime gang unity because nearly everyone who was busted was black from the same neighborhood.
Ao, in this case, they release the video within hours.... why the difference?
Also, all the officers were black, yet this is a white supremacy crime?
[It’s all about branding. The “Rainbow Pony Squad” just fails to get that cop adrenaline going.]
My Little Popo.
The family was worth about $3 billion and now they have left the city along with their wealth.
They started in hardware I believe.
The solution to all of this is very simple. Require every cop to be bonded and insured. Just like every other professional job in America. (lawyers, doctors, plumbers, electricians,........) The insurance industry will weed out the bad ones within a year.
The white liberals will be rioting, and the black liberals will be looting. As always.
Wow! I had no idea...
Back in the late 60’s, early 70’s, Detroit had a street crime unit called STRESS. I don’t recall what the acronym stood for. It was disbanded when Coleman Young became mayor, for being “too brutal”.
I suspect that most of the criminals that the Scorpions arrest have prior offences. If the criminals were locked up we would need fewer cops. We would have less crime.
This concept appears to be difficult for some to understand.
Good one.
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