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Alex Wagner Tonight

lawful detention and that he, quote, swung at an officer and literally had his hand on the officers gone. none of that is shown in the videos. the police report also list martin, one of the five officers charged with second degree murder, it lists him as a victim. it's unclear from the videos house that is even possible. martin, the four other police officers charged, and president have help, we're all members of a special unit of the -- called the scorpion. it was a unit assembled in 2021 and in response to an increase in violent crime in memphis -- it was a special plainclothes unit of the police department and it was focused on reducing violent crimes and seizing cars. officials like the mayor and the new police chief praised the scorpion unit almost immediately. as if it was sort of an overnight success. >> at the end of last year, chief davis created the street

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Alex Wagner Tonight

overnight success. >> at the end of last year, chief davis created the street crimes operation to restore peace in our neighborhood unit, scorpion, this addresses violent crimes -- that occurred throughout our city. since its inception this past october threw three days ago, the scorpion unit has had a total of 566 arrests, 390 of them for felonies. they have seized $103,000 in cash, 270 vehicles, and 253 weapons. >> officials say the memphis police department uses crime data to determine which neighborhoods to deploy the cities scorpion teams. but activists say special units like scorpion tend to target low income communities, conducting mass pull overs in those neighborhoods. those units have proliferated and cities across the country as a kind of tough on crime strategy. but there have long been complaints about those special units and in memphis, president

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Anderson Cooper 360

they report directly and only to me. in fact are physically separated. and that kind of objectivity has helped us in deciding whether charges should be brought against the officers involved in this and otfficer involved fatalities. >> it's not specialized units that create abuse. it's abuse that creates abuse. do you agree with that? do you think there is an inherent problem with specialized units like this? >> so, anderson, maybe a little bit of yes and no here. there is nothing wrong with hot spot policing, as they call it. like taking a look at the geographic data, identifying those areas of towns where there seem to be a spike in crime, and then deploying police accordingly. but sometimes the specialized units that do that kind of hot spot policing, they sort of develop their own esprit de corps, and it leads to a culture that is maybe hyper aggressive. and we've seen this with the scorpion unit, and we've seen

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Anderson Cooper 360

>> reporter: launched with fanfare in 2021, the memphis police department's now defunct scorpion unit was among the first major initiatives by new memphis police chief c.j. davis only a few months on the job. >> too many families, too many mothers, too many fathers have suffered in our city. and quite frankly, i think we are all tired of it. >> reporter: faced with rising murder rates and a spike in violent thefts, the street crimes operation to restore peace in our neighborhoods was her response. 40 officers who would patrol high crime areas, often in plain clothes with a mandate to deliver arrests. >> the scorpion unit has had a total of 566 arrests, 390 of them for felonies. they have seized $103,000 in cash, 270 vehicles and 253 weapons. >> reporter: now after five members of the unit were caught on video and charged with murder in the violent beating of tyre

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Anderson Cooper 360

do you think so-called elite units like the scorpion unit, are they inherently a problem? do they play an important role? >> well, i think what's happened is in the past two years, you've had a series of events. you've had the george floyd murder. you've had the pandemic, and then you've had a spike in violent crime. particularly homicides and shootings. and i think a lot of departments have pivoted and have said we need to do something about violent crime. but i think they forgot the lessons. amadou diallo, a number of cases like this where specialized units sort of are emboldened by the department, by the mayor. you've got to do something. but there are specific things that you can do. supervision is key. what was astonishing was there was no supervisor on scene there. and you had almost ten different people coming. so strict supervision.

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Anderson Cooper 360

nichols, it's been disbanded. specialized units have existed in most of america's 70 major city, often driving police arrest stats and generating pr opportunities for politicians eager to appear tough on crime. >> i'm glad to hear that the unit has been disbanded. i think we should probably be taking a serious look at these specialized units, both in memphis and around the country. >> reporter: this kind of so-called elite police squad is not a new idea. >> so some cities are taking on drug dealers with urban commando teams with intimidating names. like crash, dart, tnt, and in atlanta, red dog. >> show me hands, get on your knees. >> reporter: atlanta's red dog unit started in the 1980s. officers went on high-risk raids and patrolled public housing. it was publicly popular, but was disbanded in 2011 after years of complaints over its tactics. in 2021, facing a new spike in

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Anderson Cooper 360

threats thefts. the street crimes operation to restore peace in our neighborhood, was a response. 40 officers who would patrol high crime areas, often in plain clothes, with a mandate to deliver arrests. >> the scorpion unit has had a total of 566 arrests 390 of -- once with banter in 2021 the memphis police department now defunct scorpion unit was among the first major initiatives by new memphis police chief, cj davis. only a few months on the job. --

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Alex Wagner Tonight

it again, and again. until finally, tyre nichols collapses. the reason why i want to show you that video, is because of how zoom doubted. as you can see in that video is not just one officer, but the whole unit acting together. the official justification for that traffic stop that night was tyre nichols, was recklessly driving. the chief of the memphis police department has since said, the department has no truth that reckless driving took place. a unit those police officers and, was known as the street crimes operation to restore peace and our neighborhood unit. but it was known primarily by its acronym, scorpion unit. the 40 officer unit of the -- was launched in november of 2021. in response to the homicide rate that year. it focused on controlling with the department deemed to be hotspots of criminal activity. today, the family of tyre

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Alex Wagner Tonight

the officers seem to take terms holding tyre nichols. back they slugging him, they do it again, and again. until finally, tyre nichols collapses. the reason why i want to show you that video, is because of how zoom doubted. as you can see in that video is not just one officer, but the whole unit acting together. the official justification for that traffic stop that night was tyre nichols, was recklessly driving. the chief of the memphis police department has since said, the department has no truth that reckless driving took place. a unit those police officers and, was known as the street crimes operation to restore peace and our neighborhood unit. but it was known primarily by its acronym, scorpion unit. the 40 officer unit of the -- was launched in november of 2021. in response to the homicide rate that year. it focused on controlling with the department deemed to be hotspots of criminal activity. today, the family of tyre

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