Case Of Tyre Nichols Renews Calls For US Police Cultural Change

After a US police beating that was caught on camera, an unarmed black man dies. The involved officers are dismissed. Criminal charges are immediately brought against the negligent police after a careful examination of the available evidence.

Charges, accountability, and an investigation.

As long as there are still deaths, this is frequently the best black residents can expect. Academics and proponents of police reform who keep note of such deaths claim that since 2020, police have continuously killed three people every day on average across the US.

Tyre Nichols’ tragic confrontation with Memphis, Tennessee, police officers, which was captured on camera and made public on Friday night, serves as a stark reminder that efforts to improve policing have fallen short in preventing new flashpoints in an unstoppable epidemic of brutality.

Nearly 32 years ago, cries for change were sparked by the brutal beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police. Since then, they have been repeated in an unbroken cadence, with the killings of Amadou Diallo in New York, Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and numerous others serving as interruptions.

The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020 was so painful to witness that it sparked a national reckoning that included federal legislation introduced in his honor and displays of support from businesses and sports groups. All fell short of the change in law enforcement culture that Black people in America have demanded – a culture that fosters a lack of fear, confidence in the police, and respect for one another.

“We need public safety, right? We need law enforcement to combat pervasive crime,” said Jason Turner, senior pastor of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis. “Also, we don’t want the people who are sworn to protect and serve us brutalizing us for a simple traffic stop or any offense.”

In connection with the death of Nichols, a 29-year-old skateboarder, FedEx employee, and father of a 4-year-old son, on January 10, the five Black cops have now been dismissed and charged with murder and other offenses.

Nichols’ death, according to officials from the police hierarchy, the district attorney’s office, and the White House, highlights the need for more radical changes than simply diversifying the ranks, altering the use-of-force laws, and incentivizing people to register complaints.

Similar calls for action were made by national civil rights leaders, and President Joe Biden.

The president said, “To bring about genuine change, we must hold law police accountable when they disobey their oaths and we need to establish enduring trust between law enforcement, the vast majority of whom wear the badge honorably, and the communities they are supposed to serve and protect.

However, this has happened before in Memphis, a city of 628,000 people known for its blues music and barbeque as well as for being the site of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder. In 2021, the city implemented the “Reimagine Policing” initiative’s recommendations and the “8 Can’t-Wait” reforms that reformers want to see implemented quickly across all agencies.

“The world is watching us,” Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said. “If there is any silver lining to be drawn from this very dark cloud, it’s that perhaps this incident can open a broader conversation about the need for police reform.”

The Nichols case, one of several instances of police brutality to make national headlines this month, brings to light an uncomfortably uncomfortable fact: policing reforms have not significantly decreased such killings in the more than two years since the deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks sparked demonstrations.

According to a recent analysis by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland, states approved nearly 300 police reform bills after Floyd’s murder, establishing civilian oversight of police, more anti-bias training, stricter use-of-force limits, and alternatives to arrests in cases involving people with mental illnesses.

Despite calls to “defund the police,” an analysis of the police budget countrywide by the Associated Press found only small reductions, primarily due to declining revenue associated with the coronavirus outbreak. Budgets grew and expanded.

Some large agencies, like the one in New York City, saw an increase in budgets and the hiring of more officers.