Mastodawn

It's Going Down

#TyreNichols was brutally beaten by officers connected to the SCORPION (Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods) Unit. This unit was established in the fall of 2021, amid growing cries around 'rising crime.'

The unit was known for targeting 'hot spots' with special officers dressed in street clothes.

This mirrors similar units, such as the Gun Trace Task force in #Baltimore that was established in the wake of the uprising there, which kicked off following the police murder of Freddie Grey. Through that unit, under the cover of getting guns off the street and reducing the murder rate, police systematically fleeced the local Black community of cash and engaged in a variety of illegal behavior.

In #Memphis, we see a similar situation play out: out of the ashes of the George Floyd uprising, instead of defunding the police and shifting resources into schools, programs, and infrastructure, cities doubled down and gave police more money to 'combat crime,' aka come down harder on the same communities who were at the center of uprising.

Predictably, this resulted in only more death and police violence.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/memphis-police-scorpion-unit-tyre-nichols-rcna67711

Memphis police’s Scorpion unit under scrutiny after Tyre Nichols’ killing

The Memphis Police Department's Scorpion unit launched in 2021 to target violent crime. Its officers were involved in killing Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop.

NBC News

Armed Soy Jan 28, 2023

@igd_news what can ya say, libs just love voting harder for more police

Cher Tailor Jan 28, 2023

@igd_news Didn't some cities achieve cop-free autonomy after the George Floyd riots, or am I misremembering the timing?

robert daniel pickard Jan 28, 2023

@Cher @igd_news no, you may be misremembering some short lived communities like the Portland autonomous zone. But that didn't last long. No cities as a whole have freed themselves from the boot of cops

ex or current IDF unwelcome Jan 28, 2023

@igd_news Defunding police not the answer. As in the Metropolitan Police in UK first weed out your thugs, sex offenders and partner beaters. Replace with heavily vetted honest people

PedestrianError

@JohnLoader6 @igd_news Have you looked at police budgets lately? What they are now compared to at the turn of this century? You may not agree with abolishing police but it’s ridiculous to suggest current funding levels are appropriate, especially when you look at how other city services have been slashed in the same timeframe to overfund police.

ex or current IDF unwelcome Jan 28, 2023

@PedestrianError @igd_news not sure which country you refer to. In UK police lost a large number of posts for politicians to claim each new one was an improvement after slashing the numbers. In both US and UK both recruitment and continuing management needs deep investigation into each individual.

mattg Jan 28, 2023

@JohnLoader6 @igd_news there is no equivalent to the UK's Metropolitan Police in the US. If you're going to compare, US police are probably closer to letting the British Army drive around UK cities.

ex or current IDF unwelcome Jan 28, 2023

@mattg @igd_news met is just London. So equivalent to a US city

mattg Jan 28, 2023

@JohnLoader6 @igd_news correct. But the police in US cities are equipped like the military in developed countries. Literally equipped with surplus military gear.

ex or current IDF unwelcome Jan 29, 2023

@mattg @igd_news I remember the films where the US policeman was old and Irish

Ranger Nietzsche Jan 29, 2023

@JohnLoader6 @igd_news

It's absurd that when I encounter a construction crew, a uniformed, armed officer who will retire at 55 with a full pension is standing in the road directing traffic.

It's absurd that when people want to do wellness checks on their relatives, a pair of armed officers is who the city will send.

It's absurd that when I want to file an identity theft report, I need a fully trained and pensioned cop.

That's part of what defund means. The departments are bloated as hell.

ex or current IDF unwelcome Jan 29, 2023

@RNietzsche @igd_news in the UK cops aren't usually armed and except for wellness check they wouldn't bother with the other bits. Defunded until raw

Ranger Nietzsche Jan 30, 2023

@JohnLoader6 @igd_news

In the USA in many cities police are basically the default city employees for any problem. A lot of departments intentionally grabbed more responsibilities in order to grow their budgets as every other part of govt got defunded

But it's also truthfully meaningless to talk about "the police" in the USA. There are like 16,000 departments with their own budgets, policies, oversight, and relationships with community and government

Collette Lynner Jan 28, 2023

@igd_news Also a true statement: predictably, this resulted in only more death *from* police violence

Jeff and 838 others Jan 28, 2023

/1

They had a similar task force in Newark, NJ as well, called the gang unit. They were supposed to be looking for guns, gathering intel on gangs and trying to break them up, etc.

Instead they were brutalizing the non-gang citizens, gleefully abusing their authority, and performing wanton stop and frisks without legal justification 70% of the time.

They cheerfully did so during a ride along with a journalist in an episode of Frontline. The unit was then disbanded, one cop fired.

Jeff and 838 others Jan 28, 2023

/2

This is the episode of Frontline:

https://www.pbs.org/video/policing-the-police-2020-ko2tft/

These guys were severely stupid and cruel. Like, a total lack of critical thinking skills. Good riddance.

FRONTLINE | Policing the Police 2020 | Season 2020 | Episode 19 | PBS

Can police reform work? FRONTLINE returns to a troubled department after four years.

PBS.org

mattg Jan 28, 2023

@igd_news cities will keep telling us that more cops is the answer until the only service provided by cities is cops and everyone who's not a cop is dead.

Max Flight Jan 28, 2023

@igd_news CNN is reporting that the Scorpion unit has been permanently disbanded.