Aggressive policing in Memphis goes far beyond the Scorpion Unit

[Jilly_in_VA]

Reginald Dean took a long pull on his cigarette and leaned against the wall near the sliding doors of the Dollar General just as the store was closing.

It was April of last year in a neighborhood not far from the airport. As Dean recounted it, he was waiting for a ride home with a friend, the store’s assistant manager, who was still inside counting the cash in the register before locking the doors.

Two Memphis police squad cars pulled into the parking lot. Within minutes, three officers began beating and kicking Dean, leaving blood on the concrete, according to store surveillance video his family obtained. One of them doused him with pepper spray, a police report said.

“I’ve been on this earth 31 years and never been arrested,” said Dean, a former Navy mechanic. “They had no reason to do this. And they’re out here doing this to people every day.”

Surveillance video from a Dollar General store in Memphis showed that three Memphis police officers beat and kicked Reginald Dean, pictured, in April 2022.
Dean’s violent encounter with police happened months before Tyre Nichols died after police beat him during a traffic stop in January this year. The incident brought widespread scrutiny of the Memphis Police Department’s Scorpion unit, which was supposed to target violent crime. Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis disbanded the squad after critics said it frequently used heavy-handed and even unconstitutional tactics.

But the officers who beat Dean weren’t from Scorpion. They weren’t even from the organized crime unit Scorpion was part of. They were regular patrol officers.

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/2023/03/15/memphis-police-beatings-scorpion-unit-tyre-nichols/70005335007/

[Karadeniz]

1. Many police forces need to inculcate in their officers how the actual Law works. They can't call

themselves "the law" if they behave outside Law by punishing, judging, discriminating, etc. themselves. They may be part of the Law, but they're not THE Law.

[slightlv]

2. I agree with you. But look at the history of police.

The whole thing was racist from the very start. They were to help capture and return runaway slaves. Whoever came up with the "serve and protect" was a master at turning a phrase.

[Elessar Zappa]

3. There were modern style police in British cities

in the 1700s that had nothing to do with slavery so it’s not entirely accurate to say that it just comes from capturing slaves.

[slightlv]

4. No... you're correct. I know very little of 1700's Britain.

I do know some of the deals that were worked out to get the Constitution passed here in the U.S.

[brush]

5. I believe that's the history of American police forces...

why would you bring up UK police, who mostly don't even carry guns?