By Jim Glennon

Another video of police officers “out of control” has gone viral. This one with a ton of buildup.

Another opportunity to paint the entire law enforcement profession as out of control violent, racists, murderers. Menaces to society that need elimination. The cure (the police) being worse than the disease (criminals and criminality).

In this case, a black man, 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, died three days after he was beaten by five Memphis police officers (all black) on Jan. 7 of this year. The word beaten may offend some, and I don’t use it lightly, but every article I read about this incident used that word as a principal descriptor.

Then I watched the videos.

How would you portray it?

Kicks to the head? Multiple punches to the face? Baton strike above the shoulders? Tasing, Pepper spray, etc.?

Yes, for whatever reason, Tyre Nichols did resist and in fact, escaped and ran from the police.

But why did he resist? Why did he run?

Could it have been because of the behavior exhibited by the officers from the outset of the interaction?

I’ve been texting constantly with dozens of police trainers, commanders, officers, chiefs (with collectively over 600+ years of experience) for the past 24 hours. Some in real time as we watched the released video on Friday night.

The following is my (our) raw thoughts on how and why this incident came to be.

They are not singular in nature.

High/Risk Felony Stop & the Limbic System

No matter what the reason for the stop – in this case they say it was reckless driving – the officers should have conducted a High Risk/Felony Stop.

So why didn’t they? Probably loads of reasons. But I can guess two of them.

First, they lost control. They let their emotions, anger and their personal feelings override their professional goal which was to gain control of Tyre Nichols.

Furious, incensed, amped up, for whatever reason, the first officer ran up to the driver’s window with gun in hand, swearing and threatening Nichols.

Let’s use common sense for a second.

If Tyre Nichols, sitting behind the wheel of his car, was deemed so dangerous that it compelled officers to draw their guns for safety, then why would they run right up to the threat??

They wouldn’t.

When experiencing acute stress, too often the prefrontal cortex, the part of the human brain that processes information logically and reasonably, gives way to the limbic system, which houses and activates the flight or fight response. The unthinking, instinctive, reptilian part of the brain.

What happened next, I assure you, virtually every veteran officer reading this can relate to.

Once the first officer lost control of his common senses, every other officer followed suit.

The acute stress experienced by the other officers took hold. Then, what we refer to in our classes as, The Herd Mentality, followed. Without much thought they mimicked the behavior and attitude of the first couple of officers.

No thought, no reasoning, just reptilian instinct.

That’s not meant to excuse, but rather to explain at least some of what was seen on the video.

Second, they probably, and again I’m guessing here so I could be wrong, but they probably rarely, if ever, practice conducting High Risk/Felony stops.

Few cops do.

Right?

I mean other than a day in the Academy way back when, and a few scenarios on that same day, when have you actually practiced the roles and nuances of a High Risk stop?

Even so, we know, or were at least introduced to the concept, that in a High Risk/Felony Stop, that the number one thing to remember is: DO NOT APPROACH THE CAR!

What officers should do is maintain both distance and cover and attempt to have the person in the car voluntarily comply.

How?

By following clear, direct, unambiguous orders, free of profanity and threats, issued by ONE OFFICER, often over the squad car’s PA system but not always.

Was there any evidence that any of that was attempted?

Nope.

The car stopped and the officers rushed right up to the driver’s door contrary to all safety protocols and common sense.

The Officers Brought the Chaos

No question that the officers brought the chaos, confusion and fear into the initial interaction with their poor tactics and immediate unprofessional language and threats.

Why?

Again, I’m going to address acute stress.

Perhaps it is an experience that they haven’t been trained for and know nothing about when it comes to how the brain and body react to its sudden onset.

Perhaps.

However, this was purported to be an elite team used to dealing with stressful situations.

So again, why?

Well maybe they lose control all the time. They are used to it. They’ve gotten away with it because most people submitted to their control.

Dunno.

No Coordination of Effort

All officers were working independent of the others. There is no evidence of physical, verbal and/or tactical control coordination here. Their behavior and language threw fuel on the proverbial fire. They are going hands on, using pepper spray and Tasers, all at the same time.

And again, with no coordination at all. In fact, they were actually working at odds with each other.

Could that have confused and frightened Tyre Nichols?

Zero Proficiency in Control Tactics Skills

These officers, as the other 99% of the officers in this country, have no proficiency in control tactics skills.

But again, they certainly are not alone!

The average police officer in this country spends less than 8 hours a year on CT (Control Tactics) or DT (Defensive Tactics) training. We know this from experience, a survey Calibre Press conducted a few years ago and from standing in front of, and talking with, over 20,000 officers a year.

And most look at what little training they have as a joke.

Show up, throw 15 knee strikes, a couple of baton strikes, demonstrate that you know how to pull out and deploy your Taser, see you next year, or maybe the year after, or maybe never again.

Looking on the website for the Memphis PD I could find nothing in their published policies on how often they do CT/DT training?

I did find however that as for firearms, their policy stated that training will be conducted “at least annually.” That’s once a year!

And what do they do once a year?

Qualify! Which proves only that they know how to pull their gun, aim, hit a paper target just waiting to get shot and put their gun away without shooting themselves or anyone else. Nothing more.

As for training with batons, policy states that should be done “periodically.”

Periodically? What’s that mean?

Again, I can’t account for how often they do train. It could be more.

Out of Shape

Even before being accepted to the Police Academy recruits have to prove they are in physical shape. Pushups, sit ups, drag a dummy, bench press 75% of your weight, run a mile and a half in 12 minutes, etc.

You have to be in shape to become a cop!

It’s vital!

Completely necessary!

There are no exceptions!

It is an absolute incontrovertible must!

Until of course, you’re on the job. Then, no worries.

“Are you breathing?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Then you can get in a squad car.”

No offense to these officers but, several appear to be incredibly out of shape. You can hear it in their voices. In their breathing. They even talk about it.

That caught all of us by surprise.

Even in my fifties I was involved in altercations, but I never sounded like what I saw and heard on that video.

If you are out of shape, can’t breathe, have no control tactics skills and you find yourself in a fight, why would you (or your administration) expect to handle that situation professionally and proficiently?

You wouldn’t. It’s a pipe dream.

Understand that when in a fight, an anaerobic activity, the brain is going to lose oxygen, be starved for it, because the muscles are in demand. This in turn opens the door for that reptilian instinctive behavior to take hold and the making of rational unemotional decisions close to impossible.

First-Line Supervision

No one in the entire command structure, no one, is more important than first-line supervisors!

Period!

I want to broach this subject. Cautiously.

In the case of the Memphis Police Scorpion Unit, of which these officers were members, are there engaged, educated, and most importantly, involved supervisors regularly interacting with the personnel in this unit?

Do they know their personnel as individuals?

Their strengths?

Their weaknesses?

Do they insist on tactical proficiency?

Do they make training tactics a priority?

Maybe they are involved. Maybe they do prioritize training.

If so, then how did this incident come to be?

Let’s continue.

Some People Shouldn’t be Cops

The temperament needed to be a police officer is actually possessed by very few. Its interesting to me when those who criticize the police for losing their tempers speak as if they could do the job completely impartially without any evidence of irrational emotion.

That’s impossible! The job in many ways is asking the impossible.

Be human, but not too human. Don’t show emotion, but be empathetic. Deal with the things no one else wants to deal with, the deaths, the brutality, the loss, the anger, the worst of criminality, but don’t let it impact you. Be robotic. Go home and maintain emotional balance always.

It’s nonsense.

This is why there has to be regular training and educated, well-adjusted leadership constantly involved with their personnel.

Also, today, law enforcement has a recruitment problem. Agencies are offering signing bonuses, lowering their standards and as a result those who shouldn’t be law enforcement officers are slipping through the cracks.

Get them hired, push them through inadequate training and get them on the street.

A recipe for disaster?

I don’t know if any of that applies here, but the behavior of these officers in the Tyre Nichols case makes me question.

Bosses, Politicians, Values and Training

In too many cases the police in this country have no investment or support from the exact same people who demonize them, Bosses and Politicians.

The Chief of Memphis may be a great Chief.

Again, dunno.

According to reports she has been with Memphis as the Chief for 18 months. She reacted immediately upon seeing the video, firing five officers.

I know nothing beyond that and her public statements condemning the actions of her officers in the strongest of ways.

Aside from this Chief.

Again, aside from this Chief.

Police officers around this country, over the past six to seven years especially, have lost confidence in their command staffs.

Calibre Press conducted a survey in the summer of 2020 with over 10,000 officers responding.

Fear that officers will not be supported by their command and their chiefs, is one of the primary reasons over 90% of those respondent officers won’t recommend law enforcement as a career.

Did you get that?

Fear of injury and death is nothing compared to the fear that they will not be supported by their own command staff.

Morale in the profession is at record lows.

Officers across this country see police chiefs feigning shock and surprise at the behavior of their officers all the time.

Or maybe they are truly shocked and surprised because they are so clueless and blindly ignorant to how such behavior came to be.

How often have you heard a Chief of Police standing in front of a camera say something along the lines of; “I’m aghast at what I just witnessed on that video, this is completely inconsistent with our values and training.”

I’m always puzzled by that as my thoughts are immediately along these lines; “Nonsense, this is completely consistent with your values and training, because you don’t value training at all, which is why you don’t do it.”

Again, I have no idea what is going on in the Memphis PD concerning training culture. But, if it is like most big agencies, it’s inconsistent at best, a necessary evil at worst.

Controlling People who Don’t Want to Be Controlled

A little-known fact, contrary to the fantasy of TV and movies, people who don’t want to be physically controlled are very difficult to, well, physically control.

And if you have no training at all in subject control, it’s virtually impossible to accomplish it without going overboard.

A reporter for a major news organization told me that she, along with all of her highly educated friends (her description) believed that officers, every single day they show up for work, spend a half hour practicing karate and another half hour practicing shooting their guns before they hit the streets.

Her next experience was uncontrollable laughter on my part.

I explained to her that most agencies don’t do that much training in a year, and they only do CT/DT training for two reasons:

• Because the state mandates it (and that’s all they do)
• To prove they do it to avoid liability

Few do it with a goal of proficiency.

I liken it to an athlete practicing once a year for a series of games.

The Political Class

Finally, you have the politicians.

Many, not all, do the same thing as some of the chiefs. Stand in front of cameras, display angst and shock at the behavior of the officers, demonize them for the entire world to see and hear, throw up their hands and walk away.

But they do nothing of substance to effect actual change where change is needed most.

While many politicians sign on for statutory changes in police training now, for the decades prior, these same people consistently refused to invest money into their police agencies. To training them in the reality of the job. In the area where most mistakes are made, the experiencing of acute stress, in the understanding of human behavior and physical control tactics.

All of which takes time and money.

Historically, things that weren’t political priorities.

Conclusion

What about now?

It’s easy to demonize the police officers involved in any given viral video. It’s also a convenient way to distract from the complexities of the problems in the profession.

It makes no sense to believe that some insane, racist, violent parts of these officer’s collective brains were suddenly unleashed when there may have been no history of such violence or unprofessional behavior.

What we should be focusing on is the root cause.

Which is much more complicated.

Consider the points made in this article.

Is there any sense to be found?

How about a solution?

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? We want to know! E-mail us at: editor@calibrepress.com

Check out feedback to this commentary from officers nationwide HERE.