I only have two remarks to make about the killing of Tyre Nichols. The first is that it doesn’t reflect a race problem. It reflects a police problem. I honestly don’t know what to do about that. As I think I’ve mentioned before my college roommate, somewhat surprisingly, became a police officer and I attended a number of cop parties. My observation was that there is a tremendous temptation among police officers to divide the world into two groups: police officers on the one hand and perpetrators on the other. Not a police officer? You’re a perpetrator.
Policy isn’t the problem. I haven’t heard of any police department that had a policy of rousting out innocent people and murdering them. Is it who they’re recruiting as police officers? Is it inherent? That would be tragic.
My other observation is that to whatever extent anyone is making the killing of Tyre Nichols about race, they’re making a grave error if not engaging in active mischief. Any pullback in policing in black neighborhoods will hurt black people the most.
Race baiters are gonna race bait.
I doubt police attitudes are as binary as you suggest. But we clearly have a selection, training and “police your own” problem.
Clockwork Orange
I sincerely doubt that the Memphis police are trained to hunt down and kill black people. I think the problem is more a cultural one than a training or legal one.
I agree that how police officers are selected is an issue. Any attempt to change that will run athwart the public employees’ unions. And many jurisdictions are having problems recruiting police officers already.