Let's talk about Memphis, Scorpions, and Movies....

[@margaretnicol3423]

''They knew it was a scorpion when they picked it up!'' Put that with military grade weapons and it's a frightening world out there - for innocents!

[@shhhhh.242]

Tru indeed

[@idontknowaboutthat1904]

Wait until they get cop city..

[@annanderson7]

Agreed 💯

[@briansmutti]

🤗♾️

[@nathanh6439]

@@idontknowaboutthat1904 That thing needs to not happen. At least not where and how they plan it. We need police to be trained to deescalate and keep peace, not wage urban warfare.

[@higgs923]

Back in the mid-Sixties a friend who happened to be a decorated LAPD officer told me that the only difference between the cops and the gangs was that the cops wore badges.

[@karenryder6317]

What do you think about the idea that you have to fight fire with fire?

[@bradsanders6954]

@@karenryder6317 You create more fire. More cops will be taken out by snipers, the more cops kill un-armed people on camera. A certain % of people will not take murders done by cops and let it slide.

[@missopowers]

I've often thought that they seem to just be rival gangs with different uniforms, with the general public caught in the middle.

[@edwardhanson3664]

Especially true of LAPD at the time. Also, they were an extension of the CIA, harassing the peace movement, black activists, and leftists -- COINTELPRO.

[@RevShifty]

Back in the early days of social media, there was actually a video making the rounds called something like 'The Biggest Gang in America', and it was about the LAPD specifically. I remember it closing with a scene of a heavily armed SWAT team closing in on a group of people picnicking in the park. I was just a child when I learned about Rampart, and the MOVE bombings. For someone who has real, natural, and deep issues with authority (I may or may not have been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder a half dozen times or more growing up), those two incidents cemented a distrust and almost hatred for anyone in that uniform that has only deepened and gotten more informed since. I accept that good individual cops can exist. But the system they enforce and are a part of is so damned broken and they are given so much power and authority over everyone else that I'm still borderline disgusted by the police simply existing.

[@jasongallagher5464]

The fact that they knew they were on camera and still don’t care is all we need to know about the comfortability level of some police officers

[@sawluke]

The amount of people defending this tyranny makes my blood boil

[@whysocurious7366]

Yeah, anti-Americans to their core, and deluded enough to believe they’re pro-America.

[@MrAgill1970]

Because they don't understand it's tyranny. They watch shows like Cops and FOX news and think black people are running amuck in the streets and cities and it's teams like scorpion that are helping to keep them in check and contained to the cities. They don't understand that the overwhelming majority of kids in these cities, even though they might have a different skin tone, are really no different than their own kids. It's not the information or angle of view they've been provided. The people on the right didn't want to talk about the loss of an innocent life, or police brutality when this story broke. They wanted to talk about the riots that were going to occur, or the reasons behind if they didn't happen. That was their talking point.

[@gordonstrong5232]

IIronically, it seems most of the people defending this also think of themselves as advocates for 'small government'

[@sawluke]

@@gordonstrong5232 Great point Gordon

[@gking407]

You are not alone

[@kevincrosby6270]

Peace Brother. As a Black man that has been beaten up by police before I am bothered how this is being represented. Not sure if defunding or police reforms fix the humanity issue that is missing. For years the system allowed abusive White officers to help develop a culture of silence that those Black officers thought would protect them. The supposed 'transparency' and quickness to terminate and charge the those responsible should be the norm. If it was, Tyre Nichols and alot of other victims of the police would be alive. We gotta do better. #BYANYMEANSNECESSARY

[@adoxartist1258]

Exactly. The other cops and fire personnel who were involved are not even being named, merely "investigated". I'll give ya one guess why.

[@u.synlig]

@@adoxartist1258 Even the one who wished aloud, “I hope they STOMP his ass!”? He was only part of the Assault-Part 1, but even partial participation deserves recognition.

[@tonyolo4591]

@@u.synlig i'm pretty sure once he ran, the word went out to "STOMP his ass",...... my problem with "minority representation" in policing, is the culture of policing just makes it so minorities cops (and women) "have something to prove". I'm not sure what's worse,.... the person that'll beat you to death for your skin color, or the person who'd do it for acceptance at work.

[@fwscfemalewhiteseniorcitiz3711]

@Nicholas very well explained. Thank you for this, another level to understand.🇨🇦❤️🙏

[@belladonnatook8851]

Who Taught You to Hate Yourself? Malcolm X 1964 - Full Speech. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZPSgWZ3jKiHoaM

[@rosewg]

Beau I’m glad you pointed out what was obvious for years. Many cop movies and tv show reflected these violations for years and people just viewed them as normal. I quit watching Cops years ago because of it because there was a pattern in our faces. Every time the cop ruffed up someone by throwing them down and grinding their face into the asphalt, the cops would declare they were resisting arrest because the person is trying to stop their face from painfully abraided. On another point, they need to demilitarize the police and have them stop looking at the general public as the enemy

[@MusicfromMarrs]

Copaganda is a big contributor to the prob. The public is led to believe this horrible behavior is normal, so it’s OK.

[@patrickjordan2233]

🎯🎯"normalization"/ shifting the Overton window (not in a good way)..

[@tgbedini]

@@MusicfromMarrs Cop shows, for decades, have painted cops as heroes fighting against both the criminals and the awful laws that don't allow them to bend the law in their favor. Ones who ignore suspects' rights because they have already decided on guilt are very often justified on these shows, and almost never do they show that the cop was dead wrong, and ruined someone's life due to arrogance and lack of respect. The idea that cops get a bad rap because of media is generally inaccurate, since we've been conditioned for years to give them a pass. I think the proliferation of cell phone cameras/dash cameras, body cams, etc. has done more to expose the reality than anything. One can't help but think that, before that, they may have been much worse.

[@autumnleaves8553]

It's a war, them or us. And God forbid you question them. That's contempt of cop and they will kill you!

[@MusicfromMarrs]

@@patrickjordan2233 sadly yes.

[@wayne00k]

@beauofthefifthcolumn I was asked... "How could a team of police professionals commit such violent crimes?" The answer lies in the "Stanford Prison Experiment" that revealed when humans are given authority without oversight, they will commit violent crimes against the humans they control. This is why police, prisons, ICE, etc., all need close and transparent monitoring and "qualified immunity" must be abolished.

[@jakejones66]

If I could push the like button on this comment, I absolutely would. 💯 very well stated!

[@karenryder6317]

Spot on! Cops being given immunity from the law is a blatant betrayal of the principles of a democratic society. This is the kind authoritarian policing we see in fascist dictatorships with "secret police".

[@patrickjordan2233]

🎯🎯

[@retriever19golden55]

Thanks for bringing up that very telling and terrifying experiment and reminding me.

[@krejados1]

Actually, that experiment was completely discredited. Even Prof Zimbardo admitted the experiment was flawed. And when the experiment was repeated in 2002, it yielded completely different results. The Broken Windows theory of policing, introduced in 1982, is the answer you're looking for. Two social scientists developed the absurd idea that if you police minor crimes, bigger ones would never happen and law and order would prevail. Rudy Giuliani was the first to adopt it (in the early 90s).

[@aletasdreams]

In the 1980s, my psych prof taught from a study that showed criminals and cops had the same profile. Just one chose a legal way to get paid for their antisocial behavior.

[@05Matz]

Indeed, and this is the core source of many, MANY of the issues we're seeing with them now. Until they break that core factor of predatory mentality, any new coat of paint they slap on it won't do anything.

[@Sailor-Dave]

I've always said that about half of the cops were grown-up bullies who somehow avoided prison themselves, then fell ass-backward into a "professional" job that allowed them to make a living off of the natural bullying inclinations, complete with badge, firearms, and the authority of law backing them up.

[@AndaraBledin]

Hah. Did the study account for the fact that a disturbing number of cops are also straight up criminals as well?

[@grizzlynad]

I’m reminded of Al Pacino in Serpico, when he’s buying a personal firearm as he’s being targeted by corrupt police colleagues. The vendor asking him if he’s expecting an army, he replies “no, just a division”.

[@hunterlawrence7228]

I love that movie

[@coreypriest9933]

Re-distribute the letters of Serpico and it can spell “Scorpio.”

[@victorrain]

@Uncle Thomas 2 I know. Where did the e go and the second o come from?

[@PAjeannie66]

@@coreypriest9933 no, it doesn't. What are you smoking.

[@brianhotaling5849]

Also check out Prince Of The City

[@edbangor9163]

Having a lot of family in law enforcement, there's one thing I've learned: plain clothes officers who retain actual enforcement powers rather than simply being undercover invariably become corrupt as hell. A drug squad detective isn't able to buy a brand new ZO6 and a 30-ft fishing boat on a cop's salary, but stuff like that happens time and time again. I truly believe the problem is that the cops are out of uniform. Taking the uniform off changes the way I thought about myself as a Veteran. When I didn't have to polish my boots everyday, when I didn't have to make sure my sleeves were rolled properly, or that my color devices were perfectly square, I stopped caring about other things as well. If these cops never have to wear a uniform, is it so hard to believe they'll stop thinking themselves as cops and just think of themselves as gang members?

[@RevShifty]

I've seen plenty of cops in uniform still stealing drugs and/or money from people they ette busting, and it sure as hell wasn't for civil asset forfeiture. I'm sure the problem gets worse when they're able to work out of uniform, but the inherent rot in modern policing effects every single level and layer in it.

[@tinkerstrade3553]

An excellent point. But this isn't just five bad cops, this is an environment where bad cops flourish. This is a corrupted police force.

[@DairyAir]

Really good to hear someone on that side (at least kinda) saying that too…😉 2 wrongs don’t make it right…

[@nonyabizness.original]

excellent observation and analysis, thank you.

[@steveheath4256]

That's discipline you're describing. Discipline is drilled into you day one of Basic Training. Lack of discipline is what we witnesses on that video and so many others. Militarized police isn't just their equipment, it's also the tactics.

[@trevorsole3933]

ALL officers involved must be held accountable. Where tf are these "good cops" we keep hearing about?

[@fwscfemalewhiteseniorcitiz3711]

Not one good cop as well as FD, EMT on scene to protect the victim.

[@RevShifty]

Mostly just in the imagination of people who still try hard to pretend cops are the good guys.

[@rudeboyjohn3483]

There are none

[@amyschmidt1113]

Good point.

[@LaundryFaerie]

You know how they keep talking about "a couple of bad apples" on the force, every time something like this happens? They're forgetting the whole idiom from which the phrase was taken: "one bad apple spoils the whole barrel." If you have one or two obvious bad apples, rest assured that the others have been ruined too.

[@joeb134]

No coincidence. I am from Memphis. That's how these teams always operate.

[@joshsibley6419]

I immediately thought the same thing... Sure, Scorpion will be disbanded... But within a year, a new team under a different name will be right back out there....

[@groaningmole4338]

Yup. Standard operating procedure: don't change anything.

[@alphaomega5909]

Retired county sheriff here. That's my concern too. I believe I was a fair, honest law enforcement officer. But I can't answer for all other officers, departments today. I wish I had a viable plan to make law enforcement a Good but necessary part of our existence.

[@RevShifty]

Absolutely. Same bullshit as always. And the extremely short memory of white American right wingers will allow a whole lot of people will pretend to be surprised the next time it happens. Because it will happen again.

[@chrisdraughn5941]

They’ll rename it a FLEX Squad or something to that effect…

[@garydesgres1382]

look for the tarantula team.

[@certs743]

I saw how this kind of game works at a pretty early age. Came from a military family and saw what happened up here when the Canadian Airborne Regiment was disbanded. Hold a public inquiry so it is very public, avoid the really important questions, disband the unit and scatter the people to units from all over and sweep it under the rug,,,,oh and make sure you scapegoat a few low level people so the public can convince themselves the issue has been solved.

[@RevShifty]

Like clockwork. I'm so tired of people treating this shit like a sideshow, and I'm really tired by how little attention most people actually pay.

[@robsquared2]

It's fitting to call them scorpion team if you remember the story of the scorpion and the frog.

[@darrenskjoelsvold]

Oooo good comment. I would just say that "it's their nature". Authoritarians are gonna be authoritarian.

[@chaosvii]

This was more or less my first thought, as well.

[@i-love-comountains3850]

5:25 yup i think Beau knows that story too "They knew it was a scorpion when they picked it up."

[@OnyemaechiAmuro]

yupp... and there goes the "good training" argument. no training will be able to reform them. its in their nature.

[@matthewdunham1689]

Camel?

[@clayfoster8234]

The public thinks they’re getting a high speed operator version of the untouchables, the mayors office thinks they’re getting a team of Serpico’s, but every time what we actually get, like you said, is Training Day.

[@ViolentOrchid]

They've decided to blame the team for their entire department's culture. Better make sure they aren't destroying documents in their "closing" efforts. They for sure bragged in reports and internal communications.

[@RevShifty]

It's bread and circus nonsense for the extremely short American attention span and shorter memory. This will absolutely happen again, likely even with a similar team with similar training using a different name.

[@belladonnatook8851]

US Police Departments are overly militarised.

[@tombrown4683]

@@belladonnatook8851 they don't NEED that equipment but just can't resist using it on the next person that colors outside the lines.

[@Oldleftiehere]

Sure. It’s very easy to get rid of a special team that just happens to have 5 Black members that for whatever perverted reason decided to kill another Black man for whatever reason they could pull out of their collective butts. What a sick, crying shame for all of them. But it’s really a sad, unrepentant “sin” for a city that should have known better.

[@themovingforest]

SERPICO is a story of law enforcement crime that changed my reality. The commander of the OSBI telling me that I didn't want to be another Serpico led me to another career path.

[@salex3873]

to wallow in the disgusting habits of the NYPD at the time, read the KNAPP report. it was commissioned as a result of Serpico's story in the press. Worse it was the far from the first and not the last to report the same behaviors in the same department.

[@celticman1909]

I read the book in middle school, toting it around between classes raised the eyebrows of Teachers that would brand me a "Bad Apple" because I watched Network coverage of the Vietnam War and read Newspapers. I was too real for them and they couldn't bullshit me. Det. Serpico retired anonymously in upstate NY and said in an interview some years ago that he had been invited to a NYC public function long after everyone he worked with was either deceased or also long retired and he was treated like a leper by all the current NYPD officers present. He said it was obvious that the corrupt Police culture was still alive & well.

[@pauljansen1137]

Something really wrong with the work mentality within a huge part of the American Police Force!

[@gregallen4272]

And American people we need health care system that is funded by the government and a lot more mental health institutions because we have a lot of people who need serious mental health care both outpatient and long term care

[@briansmutti]

🤗♾️

[@DairyAir]

You can put any countries name before that. It’s inherent in policing for the general public to fear them…

[@patrickjordan2233]

Has been for decades? I had 2 uncles who were concerned about "extralegal" divisions within their different cities departments (late 70s).. Both ended up going to their respective state's HPs for second half of their careers...

[@stevenserna910]

Nope, nothing really wrong with the mentality. Its results driven. In business its 100% positive. In law enforcement, not so much; its peoples lives and livelihoods at stake. I rag-on cops a lot, but I must admit, they have really difficult jobs dealing with all sorts if people. I just wish they didn't enjoy it so much.

[@Cohen.the.Worrier]

Everybody involved in the hiring and training of these goons, everybody involved in setting up this _team,_ needs to be fired, investigated and prosecuted. They are throwing us a bone by only holding the foot soldiers accountable.

[@bettycarey2446]

The TV show Chicago PD is all about the "Special Operations" team. The actual "Special Operations" unit of CPD has been disbanded for bad behavior more than once. It is always revived as soon as they think no one is looking.

[@beverly719]

Back in the 70s a small town police force in Ohio made Johnny Carson’s monologue because they were the ones who were burglarizing businesses and a few homes 🤷🏼‍♀️ My husband and I were watching and we were surprised. We already knew because we lived there🤷🏼‍♀️. The joke was “if you live in ….and your house is being burgled just ask for their badge number”

[@tcs007]

It's almost as if this once again proves that power tends to corrupt: absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[@BeauoftheFifthColumn]

Officers have posted bail since filming.

[@elibennett3034]

Is anything happening to the two who conducted the initial stop? That stop was extremely poor.

[@missmelisa1823]

Then their bail wasn't set high enough! They murdered a person in plain sight.

[@Halloween111]

Maybe each will be given a warm, 5 man, welcome back party while they are out walking around.

[@dynamicworlds1]

Seems like something they shouldn't have been offered given the circumstances....

[@sigmachoosen1]

How are they granted bail is my question.... Had someone done this type of beating to a cop they would never be granted bail...it should be the same way for A cop that does it to the Citizen.

[@joannew3905]

"They knew it was a scorpion when they picked it up." OMG Beau, I have never heard this reference used to a better effect. It gave me chills.

[@quietwoodworking]

Obviously, each of these cops thought they had the authority to be the prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner. Where did that thinking come from? Obviously from the top, including from the police chief and mayor.

[@rudeboyjohn3483]

It had nothing to do with any of the procedural steps or roles in the justice system. It had everything to do with the fact that they just wanted to murder someone

[@stevel4265]

After seeing that video it made me angry as hell, he was 80 yards away from his mother's home crying out for her and they were high 5 ing each other while he was just left in pain and he did nothing to warrant that ... My heart hurts for him

[@karenryder6317]

It makes me furious also. Only a sociopath with no empathy rejoices in the pain of others. It reminded me of the SS glee at beating and torturing the Jews. If that is the only kind of person that can do police work, then the barbarians have taken over law enforcement. Why can't we do better than this?

[@kellywalker1664]

Fun fact; soldiers who become seriously wounded and are dying in the battlefield do the same thing, so it's not that hard to guess where he was at that point.

[@MrxstGrssmnstMttckstPhlNelThot]

And then in the end they started making up a list of possible lies they could tell the press to justify their brutal murder. Disgusting.

[@jeremygregorio7472]

I like the fact that I have to come to a KZbin channel to have this pointed out because mainstream media hasn't run a single opinion piece pointing it out

[@johnanthony2545]

Georgia just had correction unit locked for beating a man in jail in his cell on camera. 4 officers. This is and has been on going for years. Cameras have not been part of the equation for long respectively.

[@RevShifty]

There have been prisons all over the country where guards have not only been known to stage or cause fights between convicts, but place bets on the winner. COs needlessly beating the shit out of an inmate is hardly rare, though it does tend to happen less in federal prisons where people are serving serious time (meaning they have all time in the world to devise a plot against you, and there's no such thing as 'more time in prison' to a lifer), showing just how much of this is rooted in cowardice and a pure desire for power over who we've decided should be the powerless.

[@edwardcowan7012]

I’m a retired Correctional Officer. I’ve been on a Extraction Team. I’ve been in Critical those type situations. There was nothing proper there. It was Murder.

[@firequeen2194]

Bright blessings to you and happy retirement. Glad to see you with us. 🙏💙💙💙

[@kenbrown2808]

this brings to mind a time I was getting fuel and a police officer from a different town in my region was also fueling up and struck up a conversation. he was going to a seminar on crowd control because his town was expecting a protest of a municipal issue (specifics aren't relevant, but it wasn't a police violence protest) and his comment on it was, "I hope they don't turn violent, because I understand their position, and I want them to be able to be heard." it really shows the contrast between the police culture where I am, and so much of America. in fact, the last time police shot someone here, it was a violent felon with a history of attacking police officers, and they STILL spent a half hour trying to negotiate a peaceful conclusion, including offering to buy him coffee and promising not to arrest him.

[@John-ct9zs]

The Scorpion Unit reminds me of 80s and 90s Hollywood TV shows about crooked vigilante cops, cops gone bad. The A-Team had an episode in 1983 about a bunch of crooked SWAT team members that were killing people and exhorting money from others. It took one good cop to contact The A-Team, who were themselves on the run from the law, to help clean up the problem as hired mercenaries. Then Renegade in the 90s featured endless crooked cop episodes with the one lone good cop hero trying to set things right before the final commercial break.

[@firequeen2194]

Loved Renegade!

[@tyrongkojy]

"SCORPION" is the kind of police unit you create for VIDEO GAMES so the player can just do whatever in a city that makes Gotham combined with Robocop's Detroit look like Demolition Man's LA. This isn't something you should be doing IN REALITY.

[@karenryder6317]

This is not the way grown-ups should behave. It smacks of an adolescent boy's fantasy world.

[@voidpunkprincess]

This country is just too dang big for every city, town, county to have it’s own legalized gang that doesn’t answer to anyone but themselves. I’m not saying they have to be completely “federalized” but a central Federal registry that tracks every law enforcement officer and history of investigation into them can be more locally managed by State boards. Recertifications every year or 2. That bedpan wielding, blanket bearing, bed changing CNA you see at every hospital, nursing home, and helping grandma and grandpa at the grocery store has more government oversight than the police do.

[@hassanbazzi3545]

This is the tip of the iceberg. They made a force out of gangsters and God knows what else they were involved in the community. This is not only those five guys.

[@laughingshaman1]

That’s why they disbanded the rest of the unit in Memphis. The local government doesn’t want any more investigation in to the activities of the rest of that team.

[@i-love-comountains3850]

@@laughingshaman1 That should be our sign to really put the screws to them and investigate ALL OF THEM, federally charging them as evidence comes to light.

[@brianmccollaum5489]

Serpico proved that the entrenchment of PD corruption is a HUGE issue. One that requires coverups nationwide.

[@patrickjordan2233]

@@brianmccollaum5489 🎯🎯

[@nonyabizness.original]

i hope you're not referring to their race with the gangsters part. i worked closely with law enforcement in a midwest town that i won't name but is now infamous for one of the many police killings of an unarmed black man. that town had roving gangs of coarse, scruffy white guys riding around in confiscated cars whose only apparent job assignment was to terrorize the black, brown, and young population. they were infamous, like the literal boogyman to anyone who caught their attention.

[@MrQwint22]

I've deliberately avoided this topic for the sake of my mental health (I have anxiety problems). So, I have to thank Beau for this concise summary of events. I'm just thankfull good analysis like this *is* out there, and that social media and omni present cameras help put a human face on the victims. It's harder for people to keep their heads up their asses when the victim is a person rather than a nameless 'adolescent male'. Especially for yonger people who don't have decades of preconceptions to overcome. It's an agonizingly slow process, but this can be overcome if good folks put in the hard work.

[@ExiledDragoon]

Ya know whats frustrating is just how deeply... problematic law enforcement is in this country. I don't wanna say its broken because considering they were spawned by slave patrols and company men hired to break up organized labor they seem to be doing exactly what they were intended: enforcing the will and protecting the assets of the ruling class. "To protect and serve" isn't meant to be directed towards the public, Supreme Court ruled as much. The question is, how do we change that? Every time something I want to join the chorus that says abolish the whole thing, something like this so deeply geared against the interests of the people cannot be reformed but I cannot imagine a world without some sort of entity established for the purpose of enforcing the law of the land. Someone who responds to situation of violence, neutral arbiters who can deal with grievances but how do you establish such a force that doesn't attract those who will abuse their power? How do we establish a force whose loyalty is to the public rather than a specific ruling class? Anyway Beau, I appreciate your videos. You're a real force for good and if more people with power had more similar values to yours we would be much better off.

[@nstrangways]

Don't give them any sort of immunity and don't give them firearms. Do give them at a minimum 2 years of training on de-escalation, emergency medical care, psychology, and whatever local laws they may be expected to enforce. Pay for any continuing education an officer pursues, and require at least a 4 year degree with an appropriate major (psych, philosophy, social work) for any rank beyond sergeant. That would attract people who want to help their community and better themselves.

[@ExiledDragoon]

​@@nstrangways Hmm, not even my training took two years. Bootcamp 13 weeks, MCT was another month (ITB for the grunts are a couple weeks longer). MOS training varies but mine was shy of six months. All together to produce a LCpl hitting the fleet thats a total of less than a year. Of course there are additional training opportunities to expand skillsets as well as regular training to reinforce existing knowledge. Officer training is longer but also requires a 4 year degree though not necessarily any degree specifically since officers don't really pick their jobs they get assigned them based on needs of the Corps, though I believe the at least can make their preferences known, whether or not it really affects the selection I can't say. I also don't know if the other branches do it that way. Not quite sure how they determine jobs in law enforcement but maybe it would help if they had something analogous with MOS designations and the subsequent specialized training. I also think leadership would be improved with an officer corps thats expected to obtain or come in with a degree as well as their own specialized training. I agree any education expense should be covered, just like the military. Granted for all I know they already do this, Police academy takes six months in of itself, dunno if the rest is on the job training or if they have specialized schools that follow outside of say SWAT which probably requires additional training beyond what other officers get.

[@ExiledDragoon]

@@nstrangways Oh and to be clear, ya chuck immunity. I think everyone deserves an investigation to determine if they followed protocol, just as any service member might should an incident occur but this lack of accountability seems to really only protect reckless cops.

[@nstrangways]

@@ExiledDragoon Yeah even with airborne I was done with my entry training in like 9 months and that was as a medic. My point in setting the training standards so high was to apply financial pressure to elected officials to put more funding into community mental health and other services instead of simply sending their jackbooted thugs to every emergency call. Additionally such standards would allow for immediate implementation and if you insulate the new hires from the old system you could have solid systemic change without the potential chaos of abruptly tossing out the existing systems. I am fine with them getting tossed but I've seen what happens when the existing social order effectively vanishes overnight.

[@ExiledDragoon]

@@nstrangways I think thats situational, there have been several instances when a town or city would disband a department deemed irredeemable. Camden comes to mind with positive results. As for investments, I think reorganizing law enforcement with a greater emphasis on specialized personnel would afford a department greater expertise and flexibility but agreed that not a replacement for adequate emergency services. Like it shouldn't cost anyone a dime to call an ambulance and it shouldn't cost thousands of dollars to become a EMT or a Firefighter. It costs folks nothing to join the military of police force, but when it comes to services actually responsible for public safety? There is a huge expense on part of the applicants which makes no goddamn sense.

[@k9mutttraining]

Glad you called it "wolf pack" . When I saw the video it reminded me of the dog pack mentality that one dog start something and they all pile on.

[@Jp19557]

I doubt that "the scorpion progect" goes away totally. How many cities have similar types of internal groups or projects within their police departments.

[@RevShifty]

No way it'll disappear. It'll just show up again within a year, under a new name, maybe with some cheap, only superficial claimed differences. And this whole thing will repeat itself again and again.

[@sigmachoosen1]

You’re right they still believe in the mandate of over policing because it brings in arrest which means more finances from those that lease have the ability to speak out about it...

[@keithhoss4990]

@@sigmachoosen1 And you believe in under policing. Every time a defund the police movement takes place the murder rate Sky rockets. Neither side knows moderation anymore you’re all a bunch of morons.

[@charleshanks6186]

not really think of la gang units. think of the law sheriff special task forces...

[@Hachisherman75]

Glad Beau brought up Rampart - you'd think, after that they'd realize this was a bad idea, but they just keep doing it. People who weren't living in LA didn't realize how pervasive the problem was. They thought the riots after justice was not done for Rodney King were about Rodney King. No - they happened because before that in Pomona a retired black cop who'd just gotten out of the hospital from heart surgery was beaten severely by cops; they happened because a black cop had a news crew follow him and a friend while off duty, and it only took minutes before they were stopped, and the black cop in civilian clothes was beaten, had his head slammed into the hood of his car - and then was slammed through a store front window - and it was all shown on the news. The riots happened because as soon as the trial of the cops was moved to Simi Valley, a heavily white area - we all knew they would be acquitted. I had moved back to NH by then. A friend called me early morning panicked over those riots. I had just woken up and couldn't help saying what first came to mind - that I hoped they burned their way through Beverly Hills all the way to the bloody ocean. What is it going to take to get through to these people?!

[@wcraiderevo8078]

The chief of police who was complicit in a coverup, fired for that, in Atlanta should never have been hired in the first place.

[@BeautifulPilgrim]

Hi everyone

[@briansmutti]

🙂10th

[@jim1550]

You know Training Day is a movie because of the ending. Could you imagine if 5 regular people beat 1 cop to death?

[@nilesbutler8638]

Other cops would probably kill about 30 blameless black&brown folks who where in the general vicinity. And simultaneously manage to not catch a single one of the perps. American murder clearance rates are abysmal in international comparisons.

[@bradsanders6954]

The slaughter would never stop, if a cop was beat to death on camera. It can only go one way. Although a cop was beat to death on 1/6, and others died later. But a president called for it to happen. It was different. They were told to "fight like hell".

[@tek4]

Training day is a movie that I would say is closer to life then fiction having lived my experience and my time doing stupid shit.

[@damngodzilla6007]

It probably DOES happen from time to time. The cop/criminal power dynamic isn't TOTALLY inverted, there ARE dangerous criminals out there even in the US.

[@margotpreston]

@@damngodzilla6007 The dangerous criminals in the tend to be wearing badges and uniforms and claim that they are protectors.

[@why-even-try-brotendo]

Imagine calling yourself "scorpion team" and being serious.

[@lisacornella1973]

It wasn't supposed to be the creature...... I forget exactly but the pion stood for peace in our neighborhood

[@mrplinkett4429]

*get over here*

[@TheJackBaker]

Many Military units use it. they are very serious.

[@Sunflowrrunner]

@@lisacornella1973 At some point they should have looked at their uniform and asked if they were the baddies.

[@johnanthony2545]

In Florida we had the wolf pack. DUI squad

[@jonnyquest5335]

Totally unacceptable. They should all be jailed for life. No wonder people have little to no faith in law enforcement

[@Chuck-e7d]

✌️❤️ Internet peeps 😁 Good morning 🌄

[@briansmutti]

🙂9th

[@markrenfrow9873]

Good morning Chuck !

[@davidrichardson4131]

👍

[@lawrenceleblanc3085]

The whole police brutality situation of Tyre Nichols reminded me of a speech Malcolm X gave called, "The house negro and the field negro" - couple that with toxic masculinity and the slave patrols (which morphed into police departments) for the protection programs of the overseers, is everything from Rodney King to Tyre Nichols.

[@Iftheshoefits82]

13 to 12…I see what you did there, good sir. Again. I’m here for it

[@Maddiehere89]

I am so glad Tyre's mother did not watch the video. As someone who watched the video where my spouse was murdered I can tell you that you never forget the sights. You waje up in the morning replaying the video in your head. You go to sleep at night with it playing and replaying it in your mind over and over all day and all night. I wish I had not watched it.

[@Armphid]

I was somehow unaware of the Rampart scandal until now. Wild thing is that I bet there are people who will cheer these guys on because they liked "The Shield."

[@ICountFrom0]

I can think of a team of undercover agents. ... It involves going undercover as COPS, and arresting them.

[@hereholdthiswillya]

BEAU: I really hope the records aren't lost. GOOD REPORTERS: open their FOIA master file and begin setting up a new action file.

[@jonathanruppart610]

Beau’s last line made me chuckle. Every time I hear about the Scorpion team I think of the story of the frog and the scorpion. Very fitting.

[@gwcstudio]

They have pulled the same routine for ages with "fired" cops - relocate them abd rehire them.

[@zinaj9437]

I'm not sure if that will be true in this case. These are high melanin cops. Different subcategory.

[@macfilms9904]

A friend of mine who joined LAPD & moved quickly through patrol to CRASH to the Anti-terrorism unit quit the LAPD completely; six months before it came out they were illegally wiretapping people (without FISA authorization) and other illegal activities. He saw the lawbreaking and couldn't be a part of it.

[@Abderian]

Maybe they just watched all the 80's cop movies with scenes where the chief is yelling at the protagonists who're always right like, "Your shoot-first-ask-questions-later approach goes against all the rules, but, dammit, you get RESULTS," and decided to build their entire department around that.

[@denisecorzette1676]

✌️Beau

[@briansmutti]

🙂6th

[@shawnr771]

Good morning.

[@davidrichardson4131]

👍

[@markbrown2640]

In London, the Met set up a couple of units like this back in the 1960's. Special Branch is descended from one. The Flying Squad is probably the most notorious, mainly because of the name and their more press seeking nature.

[@daleomiller]

It’s not that police departments are slow to learn. It’s because that’s a feature.

[@iquestion8493]

👋 Thanks Beau 😊

[@briansmutti]

🙂4th (arr arr your fave)

[@shawnr771]

Good morning.

[@iquestion8493]

@@briansmutti yay! Thanks. 👋🌞💙💙💜💜😊

[@iquestion8493]

@@shawnr771 Good morning Shawn. How are you today?

[@shawnr771]

@@iquestion8493 Doing good. Working on moving some outdoor plants indoors. Giving them a home until warmer weather ensues.

[@AwakeInAnacortes]

I would suggest the problem of unchecked power being given to police in order to "clean up crime" goes back even further to the old west, where gunfighters were hired as sheriffs and often committed just as many crimes as the criminals they were supposed to eliminate. The false notion that we can rid ourselves of bad people by hiring other bad people seems to be a perpetual problem.

[@Andrea.1tree]

🌅 So they are just going to disband the team, but fill it with another team, different name? The book of regulations needs to be made public, and ok’d by the community before incorporating a new team. Period. This can’t keep happening.

[@pameladwyer2244]

Good morning, Andrea! Snowing again here.

[@Andrea.1tree]

@@pameladwyer2244 🌅 G’morning Pamela! We had snow ❄️ last night, but just a couple inches. It’s currently 11° f or -11.6° c. 🥶

[@Andrea.1tree]

@לזר קגנוביץ' Jokes aside, I sincerely hope that pd gets their act together. They’re supposed to be de-escalating. Not exacerbating the problems in our society.

[@markrenfrow9873]

Good morning Andrea !

[@comfortablynumb9342]

Hola amiga. Voy a Costa Rica mañana para visitar mi hijo.

[@joycepetrina2791]

Thank you Beau for addressing this. I live in Memphis and we are reeling from the brutality of this young man’s death. My heart goes out to his family. Our son was a police officer. We lost him in the line of duty to an arrogant ass****.

[@Ron-rs2zl]

" I have a feeling some people are gonna want to look at those records in the future"...to make a movie!

[@billestew7535]

A brief look into the history of policing in America will show that nothing has changed very much since the abolition of slavery, but the war on drugs under Raygun and the seizing of proceeds of crime used to militarize the police by every administration since him, has been not just a failure in stopping crime, gangs, and drugs but an absolute threat to every citizen in the communities it was said they wanted to protect. How long was cops on t.v anyway? I always hated that show.

[@TheSuzberry]

Face value? Who’s face? What value? The people on the team aren’t going away.

[@briansmutti]

🤗♾️

[@comfortablynumb9342]

What value is the question.

[@Free4Ever-grace]

Good point. The records are always lost. AND - we never get to see those in the higher echelons who actually endorse the madness. There’s always a fall guy.

[@salex3873]

Just heard that Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis, the Memphis police chief ran a unit when she was in Atlanta called REDDOGS. It was disbanded after it was sued for excessive force before she left that department. You would have to dig on dates and whether it was adjudicated before she left. Still, she knew or should have known this kind of unit was a problem. AND she is quoted as saying if the cops were allowed to view the video first their reports would be more accurate! i can find these in my history if you want

[@Ifyoucanreadthisgooglebroke]

If you are even naming it something like "scorpion", you are no longer acting like a good faith police force. You've committed to the military cosplay power trip.

[@13KS98]

Exactly, 3 months to 2 years from now (When ever the department feels the heat has died down) we will get a brand new acronym and mostly new officers but it will be the same team.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

The last cop show I watched that portrayed cops I would want in my community was Adam-12.

[@ShikataGaNai100]

Interesting side note: I did not see a single supervisor (Sgt. or above) during the entire "operation." Also, there will be more indictments for the "standing around" cops who did nothing to intervene.

[@TheNerdyVirgo]

Using gangs to combat gangsters is still “gangbanging”🤔

[@RevShifty]

Even then, I've felt safe around plenty of 'real' gangbangers. I've never felt especially safe around a cop.

[@jonc4403]

@@RevShifty Cops are the biggest and most dangerous street gang in the country.

[@cpuuk]

... we have have learnt our lesson and disbanded the Scorpion Team... say hello to the new and improved Viper Team (same members).

[@suzannederusha1370]

Thank you Beau for your voice of reason and truth.

[@frostydei5012]

I feel like the department is more proud of their acronym (S.C.O.R.P.I.O.N. 🙄) than they are remorseful.

[@janicestevenson6496]

Thank you Beau for this video. It seems that those who are given a lot of power/authority often do not recognize the great responsibility that comes with it. Here is an excerpt from the writings of Marshall Vian Summers about the relationship between power and responsibility. "It is very important that you recognize the relationship between power and responsibility. Responsibility requires self-discipline, self-restraint and self-control. It requires an objectivity about your own life which very few have yet attained in this world... It is very common in the world that people want power without responsibility, for their idea of freedom is that they are not beholden to anything. This is utterly counter-productive and has very dangerous consequences for those who persist in attempting it... Think of your ideas about power and recognize how much they need responsibility to a Greater Source in order to be utilized and expressed appropriately."(MVS, Steps to Knowledge)

[@rodb54321]

thank you for this

[@johnchapman5125]

Thank you!

[@dp0004]

Strategic thinking has to be tested otherwise flaws will exist. Authority and responsibility have to go together otherwise flaws will occur.

[@SV-lw8jo]

The city better still have that money and cars because they are about to pay millions by the time this is over.

[@fantym1633]

The problem is that it'll be the taxpayers footing the bill. It should come from police union, police pension, the individuals' personal assets, etc

[@nickanderson412]

If peace means cringing submission to authority, maybe peace isn't what we need.

[@HighLevelNinja]

It’s not that police departments aren’t learning these teams are bad news. It’s that they keep getting away with creating, canceling, and re-forming these teams.

[@johleby8048]

You are an American hero, Beau! Thanks for your heroism,Sir! 🙏❤️🙏

[@susangordon1157]

I've known a few teams from a distance and outside looking in, it seems that they are junkies. I've listened while they relive an event and could hear the conversation intensify as the adrenal increased with the retelling. It was not simply decompressing; they didn't want to let go of that rush. The teams I observed also saw themselves as elite even among other cops and fed their egos on their perceived exclusivity. I have met exactly 1 cop that seemed to be balanced and able to remain emotionally unreactive even under stress. I don't think it's the training because after the training is when the peer pressure begins and the new guys want to be accepted into the pack. I think it's a sickness of the human condition that we don't know how to fix and have difficulty weeding out prior to something bad happening.

[@Bgrk]

I think the problem will be solved once we leave earth. But only on Earth though because i think we will be racist to people born on different worlds. I can just hear it now “Martians are ugly & stupid” they should have never left Earth lol. Its easy to fight wars ( literally monkeys do it) & be bigoted (dolphins are racist) lol its hard to be enlightened. We tend to end the smart peoples lives it’s sad really.

[@firequeen2194]

Truth! I’ve known a few myself.

[@stacinaturenuts9060]

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[@ed3839]

Good subtle reference to the Scorpion and the Frog parable there at the end!

[@joeybleu66]

Mr Crump is a powerful person. he has defended the rights of a black person to breathe air without fear.

[@carlad.prince9760]

Good morning.☕

[@heidis3993]

It bucks me up when Beau shows us righteous anger.

[@markrenfrow9873]

Good morning Beau and internet folks.

[@Andrea.1tree]

👋🏼🌅 G’morning Mark!

[@briansmutti]

🤗♾️

[@shawnr771]

Good morning Mark.

[@cantonlowlifemedia]

I wish I remembered who recommended your channel to me! You never disappoint with your calm measured demeanor and logical point by point analysis of events!

[@daiakunin]

The other day while waiting on car repairs the mechanic shop's tv had a cop show on that was set in Chicago. A lot of those fictional cop characters were doing things that were not much better than what happened in Memphis but it was all presented as an ends to justify the means of getting the 'bad guys'.

[@OutdoorLonghair]

There's a term for that "copaganda" and this country has had more than it's fill

[@ScytheNoire]

This is just a criminal organization within a criminal organization. Movies and TV shows should start representing the police in a realistic manner, rather than pro-police propaganda.

[@TennTrevino]

Thank you Beau, for your sane take on our insane world.

[@DavidB75311]

Thank you for continuingly doing the hard work of trying to educate people online.

[@mortimersnerdishere]

I don't know what could possibly go wrong with giving these Roid Rangers all the tools necessary to become the tyrants they've dreamed of becoming and then giving them a cool name and matching tattoos 🤷🤷

[@zachv1942]

There is no way some of them get as stacked as they do with the budget they have and very little actual gym time.

[@jkmil4981]

Reminds me of the TNT unit in New York. Special unit to go after drug dealers started robbing drug dealers almost immediately. And because of their maverick status and cool name, it took years for their criminal activities to become public, although it seems there were many cops who knew about them before they were shut down.

[@myrrhis01]

Throwing in a little Aesop's Fables at the end. Nice.

[@teeing9355]

The proceeds from any police seizures and fines need to go to a central fund for mental health and drug treatment, not back the police or locality.

[@Jkitty7599]

And Denzel played that role so well, it hurt my heart to see him like that.

[@screechingwind114]

He made that character come into full blown horror of what is going on in these Units.

[@Jkitty7599]

@@screechingwind114 absolutely, I really love & loved everyone of his characters he played, except that one, but boy he played it well.

[@owlontheprowl1657]

Has anyone mentioned the speed of the dismissal and speed of the charging of these officers. The lack of character assassination of the victim by police and press. The lack of ' Where's the rest of the footage' The non-issue of the lack of cooperation with the police chief, police union, and fellow officers. Also note the absence of riots and protests. See law enforcement, and hopefully later, the judicial system will demonstrate that they can prosecute rogue officers. Now, they will have a hard time explaining why this can't happen to any officers who act in this manner next time when the cops aren't black

[@jaysonpida5379]

I can't understand why an 'elite' police unit that was set up to go after the worst criminal elements would even bother with this man and such a ticky-tack/BS traffic stop ??? Didn't they have 'larger' problems to deal with?