How did the five men who beat Tyre Nchols to death in the most inhumane, brutal way become police officers on the Memphis police force? Until this incident, were they perfectly responsible men intending to keep the peace as expected, using force only when necessary, and with all the restraint possible under the circumstances? This is hardly possible. Whether they showed earlier signs of the capacity for murderous conduct or whether there was aything in their backgrounds that could predict aberrant behavior of any kind, is yet to be disclosed. Is it possible that the Memphis police command had no way of knowing they would commit such a heinous crime? That question will likely be answered in the course of civil suits. The worst place to have employment policie and practices examined is in a courtroom before a jury. And the worst time is after employees have been charged with murder.
After Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes, the police force made changes to its hiring standards, modified use-of-force policies and increased officer training. All of this, however, was too late to save Mr. Floyd’s life. These changes were also an implicit acknowledgment that all such policies and practices were previously inadequate. The odds are very good that this same scenario will play out in Memphis. They have already disbanded the “Scorpion” unit to which the five officers were assigned. (A scorpion is a species that uses sharp pincers to restrain and kill prey, and their bites can be fatal humans. Rethinking such labels will be a good place to start.) But whatever they do to improve hiring and staffing practices in Memphis, it will be too late for Mr. Nichols.
All of this is not intended to indict law enforcement agencies and their employees generally. Rather it is intended to point out that agencies who send armed men and women out into the public square, charging them with keeping the peace and appropriate restraint and common decency, have an obligation to do everything possible to ensure that those persons are competent to do so. Where law enforcement leaders, including police chiefs, mayors and town councils fail to do this, they will share the blame, and the shame, if a Derek Chauvin or a “Scorpion” type officer on their force unlawfully injures or kills a person in the course of their duties.
James Kellett lives in Carversville.
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