Tyre Nichols

[KenAdams]

The bodycam footage has been released.

I'm in two minds about whether to watch it or not. I don't think I'll ever get the George Floyd one out of my head.

What is the problem with male police officers? Racism, violent or misogynistic tendencies (the latter more specific to other recent cases). I just don't know. And I don't know how the police can build back trust on either side of the Atlantic.

Why would you watch it? What benefit do you perceive there would be?

They need to look at their recruitment processes, they have clearly appointed many arrogant aggressive men.

I’ve just seen the footage on the news, at one point there’s fifteen people around him as he’s dying and not one of them seems to care.
You can’t reform that.

I can't bear to watch it. He cries out for his mom while they beat him to death.

I do think it's important that it's made public but that doesn't mean everyone has to watch it.

Not every cop is corrupt or racist or brutal but I think police forces as institutions are just incredibly fucked up. What is it, 1000 Met officers under investigation? That's insane.

I don't want to shy away from the reality of things but I'm not sure I can watch it. The BBC seem to be doing a good summary of the videos on the news website so I think that will be enough to understand the situation.

I absolutely will not be watching it. Reading the article is upsetting enough.

My mind is baffled about how something like this can come about. And on camera?

And they intend to plead not guilty?

And they are all black?

And it begs the question of whether this was the first time?

I realise we have our problems here but it does seem to be on a whole other level in America and I cannot see this being the end or how or where they would even start to flush out officers like this.

So so sad and RIP to that poor man.

And why did they think they wouldn't get found out? They had bodycams on!

The presence of bodycams is some of the worst if it - that they didn't care, despite being recorded, suggests to me this happens all the time and more often than not, not one cares enough to act on the footage. That's why they felt safe to act that way.

The recruitment, training and ongoing employment of those monsters, shames the police force. I hope they get massive custodial sentences for it. And I would hope it gives police forces everywhere a shake up. But I won't hold my breathe.

I’ve read the bbc summary and there is no way I will be watching - absolutely appalling. The policing in America seems to be utterly broken, but then in a different way, so does the Met.

Not sure why anyone would want to watch it.

I don't think it's just recruitment but I think not only does the police attract some bad apples, it probably shapes them too.

I also think guns don't help.

The BBC has edited it and pixelated parts so it’s ok to watch to get an idea without being too graphic.

The presence of bodycams is some of the worst if it - that they didn't care, despite being recorded, suggests to me this happens all the time and more often than not, not one cares enough to act on the footage. That's why they felt safe to act that way.

Yes, in the same way we have those known ones here. Is it because they have too much employment protection or because they can't afford to lose all the dodgy ones, etc.?

Can’t watch it either, utterly grim. Absolute animals to do what they did. That poor man😔
I don’t know what you do about something like this, the problems go right to the core of policing.

Just as a warning, Daily Mail have the video on auto play and it’s top story. If you don’t want to see it, don’t go there.

It showed a couple of bits of it on sky news and it's truly horrific!
When he is shouting for his mum I just broke down.

If you want to understand the events leading up to the beating (well I don't mean understand as what happened is beyond comprehension) the BBC video is upsetting but the beating has been pixilated out along with the sound in that part and also they cut the video there as well so it does let you appreciate what a non threat this man was to the officers.

I didn’t choose to watch it, it was unfortunately on the daily Mail website at the top and the video played without even clicking on the article. It is awful and I cried after I saw it, I don’t often cry. I couldn’t bear to click the article or watch the whole video. It looks like murder to me.

Policing in the US: recruit the wrong people, train them badly, send them out to make things worse.

Police training is 26 weeks. Compare that to most of Europe, UK included, where it's 2 years + and you have the start of an explanation.

I think this goes beyond officer training, it's mobbing behaviour, something that happens inmany species of animals in groups when they get excited and perceive a threat. This behaviour is still innate within humans and occurs regularly. The higher brain functions switch off and each participant copies and joins in with the others until the 'threat' is neutralised.

@growinggreyer the mob mentality is definitely a thing, but it doesn't explain why this sort of thing happens so frequently in the US but not in this part of the world, or far less often.

Just reading it makes me feel sick. There's no way I will be watching it.

Ok except they recently announced more than 1000 London Met police have had allegations of domestic abuse or sexual offences, which were never addressed and are now being reopened. This is not just a US thing or a recruitment thing. There is something inherently dangerous about giving some people so much power over other people. They need to be closely monitored by outside bodies to make sure they don't abuse that power.

Yes, I agree that US policing is in poor shape and something needs to be changed. I hope there is going to be a real investigation into this.

I was musing whether there could be an AI monitoring the bodycams in real time for signs of mobbing, and how the mob could be disrupted. Eg if every police radio in the area could play a recorded 'Officers stand down' order. But I am not sure if anything could snap people out of that behaviour once it has started.

They need to be closely monitored by outside bodies to make sure they don't abuse that power

This did cross my mind as a solution too. Random, covert surveillance of any officer at any time, by an independent body. Don’t know how feasible or practical (or legal?) that would be in practice so don’t flame me, but these horrific abuses of power have to stop.

Male violence. It always boils down to male violence.

I don't think there is a country that gets policing completely right, but there are certainly countries that do it far better than the US or the Met. Training is part of that, vetting is part of that and I suspect monitoring will also be a part of that.