The Memphis 5

[Lon]

Haven’t seen a thread on this.

https://www.memphistn.gov/news/video...ce-department/

Fuck those guys.

“Scorpion unit” (what a stupid fucking name) deactivated:

[blues]

Aptly named...

[GearFondler]

Aptly named...

What a fucking brilliant response! Well played, sir!

[jnc36rcpd]

While I realize there are probably many well-run, professional special units with cool, macho names like "SCORPION", I can't help but think a unit with that name is likely to attract the problem children of an agency. Somehow Metro, D Platoon, and SEB get by with pedestrian names.

While the media will inevitably talk about racial reckonings and how bad policing is, I'd be intrigued to know what kind of supervision, if any, was going on in SCORPION. Were sergeants and lieutenants out there on the road with them or surfing the Internet at the station (or working daywork)? Were these guys problems before the night in question or did several officers just go insane one night? I also wonder if any gateposts were ignored in selection to the department, graduation from the academy and FTO, and assignment to the unit? If so, was this because of a shortage of officers or a desire for increased diversity?

[El Cid]

Have they said if they turned off their BWC’s for part of the attack? The footage from the pole camera shows them holding him up and taking turns hitting him as hard as they can. I didn’t see that on the BWC video but I’m not sure if the news just didn’t show it. If they turned off their cameras before that, that’s some serious premeditation.

[RevolverJIM]

Premeditation or not, these guys were waaaay out in the weeds!

[Tensaw]

While the media will inevitably talk about racial reckonings and how bad policing is, I'd be intrigued to know what kind of supervision, if any, was going on in SCORPION. Were sergeants and lieutenants out there on the road with them or surfing the Internet at the station (or working daywork)? Were these guys problems before the night in question or did several officers just go insane one night? I also wonder if any gateposts were ignored in selection to the department, graduation from the academy and FTO, and assignment to the unit? If so, was this because of a shortage of officers or a desire for increased diversity?

This is, among other things, a failure of leadership. The folks at the top set the tone.

[RJflyer]

Granted my perspective is narrowed by my own experience. But it seems like there's a trend of 5-10 year officers/deputies leaving their original agencies for either higher paying state/local LE jobs or fed LE jobs. Almost every one of my friends who I hired on with back at my old PD has either left the profession, gone fed, or gone to other jurisdictions that pay better and have better QoL for their officers.

How common will it be for a cop hired by an agency in the last few years to retire with that same agency? My guess is it will be very uncommon. The larger, "feeder" agencies with bigger hiring budgets and higher turnover will continue to hire anyone who meets basic standards in order to keep bodies on the street. Those folks will go through academy, FTO, probation...and as soon as they become seasoned veteran officers, the best of them will probably leave that agency for better opportunities, be it at other LE agencies or outside the profession. That leaves the original agency with a "hollow force" along the lines of the US military post-Vietnam. When I left my old PD, it was standard for new trainees out of the academy to be on the street with FTOs who themselves had maybe two years on. That's not a recipe for sustainably good policing.

My gut tells me that if something doesnt change, videos like this will keep showing up.

[camel]

Granted my perspective is narrowed by my own experience. But it seems like there's a trend of 5-10 year officers/deputies leaving their original agencies for either higher paying state/local LE jobs or fed LE jobs. Almost every one of my friends who I hired on with back at my old PD has either left the profession, gone fed, or gone to other jurisdictions that pay better and have better QoL for their officers.

How common will it be for a cop hired by an agency in the last few years to retire with that same agency? My guess is it will be very uncommon. The larger, "feeder" agencies with bigger hiring budgets and higher turnover will continue to hire anyone who meets basic standards in order to keep bodies on the street. Those folks will go through academy, FTO, probation...and as soon as they become seasoned veteran officers, the best of them will probably leave that agency for better opportunities, be it at other LE agencies or outside the profession. That leaves the original agency with a "hollow force" along the lines of the US military post-Vietnam. When I left my old PD, it was standard for new trainees out of the academy to be on the street with FTOs who themselves had maybe two years on. That's not a recipe for sustainably good policing.

My gut tells me that if something doesnt change, videos like this will keep showing up.

It’s a people problem. And a command problem.

[Magsz]

Granted my perspective is narrowed by my own experience. But it seems like there's a trend of 5-10 year officers/deputies leaving their original agencies for either higher paying state/local LE jobs or fed LE jobs. Almost every one of my friends who I hired on with back at my old PD has either left the profession, gone fed, or gone to other jurisdictions that pay better and have better QoL for their officers.

How common will it be for a cop hired by an agency in the last few years to retire with that same agency? My guess is it will be very uncommon. The larger, "feeder" agencies with bigger hiring budgets and higher turnover will continue to hire anyone who meets basic standards in order to keep bodies on the street. Those folks will go through academy, FTO, probation...and as soon as they become seasoned veteran officers, the best of them will probably leave that agency for better opportunities, be it at other LE agencies or outside the profession. That leaves the original agency with a "hollow force" along the lines of the US military post-Vietnam. When I left my old PD, it was standard for new trainees out of the academy to be on the street with FTOs who themselves had maybe two years on. That's not a recipe for sustainably good policing.

My gut tells me that if something doesnt change, videos like this will keep showing up.

The problem comes down to hiring, at all levels. Our hiring process is simply broken.