The Memphis police officers charged with the brutal murder of Tire Nichols were part of a specialized unit formed just over a year ago to stem a wave of violence in the city.
Called SCORPION, or the Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods unit, the unit was designed as a group of 40 officers to be deployed to neighborhoods, with an emphasis on crime hotspots. The officers have often operated in unmarked vehicles, stopping traffic, seizing weapons and making hundreds of arrests.
The unit was such an important part of the city’s crime-fighting strategy that Mayor Jim Strickland spoke of it in his State of the City address a year ago, at a time when the city was recording record homicides.
Now that unit has been involved in a fatal encounter that Police Chief Cerelyn Davis, who founded the team in the fall of 2021, called “heinous, reckless and inhumane.” Five officers have been charged in Mr. Nichols’ death and Chief Davis has ordered a review of SCORPION.
Specialized crime-fighting teams have long been the subject of scrutiny in cities across the country, as they often target people of color and use tactics such as pretext stops, where officers can apprehend someone for a minor offense and then use the opportunity to looking for more serious crimes.
The Memphis Police Department said in an initial statement that officers detained Mr. Nichols on January 7 on suspicion of reckless driving and that a “confrontation” occurred as officers approached the vehicle. Mr Nichols was taken to hospital in critical condition and died three days later.
An independent autopsy found Mr Nichols had suffered “severe bleeding as a result of a severe beating”, according to preliminary findings released by his family’s lawyers, who said Mr Nichols had told officers he just wanted to go home .
Ben Crump, an attorney for the family, said teams like SCORPION that focus on “saturation patrols” often use aggressive tactics that destroy trust between police and the communities they are supposed to serve. He called on federal officials to investigate such teams and their tactics.
“We are pushing for reform, transparency and better oversight of these ‘saturation’ units, or their removal as a tactic from US police,” Crump said. “Our communities will be much better off.”