The city’s homicide rate was rising and residents were clamoring for action when the Memphis Police Department announced a new anti-violence unit with a terrifying name.
“MPD’s New Scorpion Unit Launches!” read a post on the department’s Facebook page in November 2021, along with a video clip showing a group of officers in tactical vests at a roll call.
The name stands for Street Crime Operations to restore peace to our neighborhoods.
Now it is known for unleashing deadly violence on one of the city’s residents.
Authorities confirmed Thursday that Scorpion officers were responsible for the beating death of Tyre Nichols following a Jan. 7 traffic stop.
“The Scorpion Unit was involved,” Shelby County, Tennessee, District Attorney Steve Mulroy said Thursday at a press conference where he announced the homicide charges against the five officers.
The attack on Nichols, which Police Chief Cerelin “CJ.” The city’s reliance on special units to crack down on violent crime has increased scrutiny, calling it “disgusting, reckless and inhumane.” This “hot spot” approach has been used by cities across the country — but some police reform advocates say it contributes to increased use of force and undermines public trust.
This week, Davis announced a review of all of the police department’s special units, including the Scorpion, in response to Nichols’ death. The police department declined to comment further about the Scorpio unit on Thursday.
Nichols, 29, died Jan. 10, three days after a traffic stop for alleged reckless driving in the Hickory Hill neighborhood of Memphis, authorities said. A confrontation ensued, which led to Nichols being pepper sprayed and running from officers before he was beaten, Mulroy said.
City officials said video of the beating will be released after 6 p.m. Friday.
The Memphis Scorpion Unit was created in October 2021 under the Police Department’s Organized Crime Unit. Composed of 40 officers divided into four 10-member teams, the unit was tasked not only with tackling violent crime but also investigating car thefts and gangs. Officers’ “crime suppression” tasks changed depending on where the crime was bad.
Memphis set a homicide record for the second year in a row in 2021. The police department reported 346 in 2021 — up from 332 the previous year.
Mayor Jim Strickland promoted the new Scorpion unit as part of the solution in his January 2022 State of the City speech. He called it part of an anti-crime strategy that also includes gun violence intervention programs and more money for the police department. In its first three months, Scorpion made hundreds of arrests and seized hundreds of cars and weapons, Strickland said.