This wasn't even close to an isolated incident.
For most readers across the United States and around the world, last Thursday was the first time they heard about the Memphis Police Department unit known as SCORPION. That was the day five of its officers were charged with second-degree murder in connection with the beating death of Tyre Nichols. In the days since, as shocking videos have been released, many have struggled to make sense of the actions of those officers, and to comprehend how they could stray so far from their mandate to keep the public safe. |
To Radley Balko, who reported for years on units like SCORPION, the tragic incident was predictable. |
"Covering this issue, you start to see that these 'elite' police units over and over again get brought down by these scandals," he told me recently. "In the coverage of the scandals in the '70s, '80s, even '90s, there's all this consternation: 'How can this happen in an elite unit?' And then you think, maybe the fact that they're called 'elite' is part of the problem." |
"These officers have very little oversight, they get special privileges, they're given a lot of latitude to — if not break the rules, certainly bend them," said Balko, who's the author of "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces." |
In a guest essay for Opinion, Balko wrote about the brutal legacy of these special units in cities including Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Newark, Pomona, Milwaukee, Greensboro and Fresno. "The evidence is overwhelming," he argued. "Giving roving teams of police officers added authority, elite status, a long leash and a vague mandate is a formula for abuse." |
Balko first became interested in the militarization of police forces because, he said, he kept reading articles about SWAT teams that had raided the wrong house or accidentally shot someone. "Inevitably," he recalled, "somewhere in the story a police spokesperson would be quoted saying it's an isolated incident. You read about enough isolated incidents and you start wondering how isolated they are." |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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