![]() ![]() ![]() “They can focus on the particular problem of whatever it is that the police hierarchy says, ‘This is what we determined to be a problem.’” “The guys and gals that are working the specialized units, they’re not driven by the radio,” Klinger said. Patrol units spend most of their shift responding to radio calls or writing traffic tickets, leaving only a handful of hours to do “proactive” police work. Specialized units can be effective, Klinger said. Here’s how experts see the mission of these units, and how their use can sometimes lead to misconduct. However, a 2020 study of police in Tempe, Arizona, showed that police in special units are four times as likely to engage in the use of force as ordinary patrol officers. Some studies have shown that they are not necessarily more likely to engage in use of force. There is limited research on police special units. They were tasked with policing certain neighborhoods, which are overwhelmingly Black, and pulling people over and executing pretextual stops,” he said, referring to stops used by police in order to conduct an unrelated search for drugs, firearms or other illicit items. “They’re no different from many before them, both here and beyond. But while Spickler was shaken, he was not necessarily surprised. Josh Spickler, executive director of Just City, a criminal justice reform organization in Memphis, was not very familiar with the Scorpions before Nichols’ death. Memphis Police Department/ Handout via REUTERS Memphis Police Department officers attend a roll call briefing of the department’s Scorpion unit, an acronym for The Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods, in Memphis, Tennessee, from a video from Nov. They’re doing exactly what they were asked to do.” They’re crossing the line They’re physical. WATCH: Police tactics again under scrutiny in wake of killing of Tyre Nicholsīut to Donaldson, these forces “almost always, city after city, lead to big-time problems and quite often tragedies,” in part due to what the challenge that they’ve been tasked with. These forces, which might be detective units, police assigned to pursue a particular suspect or operational street units, are common in larger police departments, Klinger said. “The desire from the public for a specialized ability to deal with a certain issue becomes something that is politically motivating” for law enforcement, said David Klinger, a professor of criminology at the University of Missouri, St. ![]() “The genesis of is the public wants something done and they don’t care how it’s done,” Donaldson said. Greg Donaldson, an associate professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said cities and police departments have often sought special units as a solution in periods of rising crime, such as the crack epidemic in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s and the more recent increase in violence in some cities during the COVID-19 pandemic. “They’re crossing the line They’re physical. These units were tasked with combating a particular problem such as gangs, muggings, firearms or - in the case of the Scorpions - violent crime. Specialized units like the Scorpions were started as police departments across the country began to professionalize during the first half of the 20th century. WATCH: Mourners issue call for police reform at funeral of Tyre Nichols But while ubiquitous, some have attracted controversy, including for misconduct that has resulted in deaths, protests and lawsuits. The Scorpions – who wore special uniforms and drove Dodge Chargers with the group’s seal on the side – were one of the many specialized police units that have proliferated in large police departments across the country. In a statement, the Memphis Police Department said it was “in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate” the unit, which stood for Street Crimes Operations to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods and had been tasked with cracking down on violent offenses. 27 showing the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, the Memphis Police disbanded the Scorpions, the special police unit that counted among its members the men accused of his murder.
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