The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Amid soaring crime, Memphis lowered bar for police hiring
Beyond the beating, kicking, cursing and pepper spraying, the video of Tyre Nichols’ deadly arrest at the hands of young Memphis police officers is just as notable for what’s missing: any experienced supervisors showing up to stop them. That points to a dangerous confluence of trends that Memphis’ police chief acknowledged have dogged the department as the city became one of the nation’s murder hot spots: a chronic shortage of officers, especially supervisors, increasing numbers of police quitting and a struggle to bring in qualified recruits.
Former Memphis police recruiters told The Associated Press of a growing desperation to fill hundreds of slots in recent years that drove the department to increase incentives and lower its standards. “They would allow just pretty much anybody to be a police officer,” said Alvin Davis, a former lieutenant in charge of recruiting before he retired last year out of frustration. The department offered new recruits $15,000 signing bonuses and $10,000 relocation allowances while phasing out requirements to have either college credits, military service or previous police work. All that’s now required is two years’ work experience — any work experience. The department also sought state waivers to hire applicants with criminal records. And the police academy even dropped timing requirements on physical fitness drills and removed running entirely because too many people were failing.
“I asked them what made you want to be the police, and they’ll be honest: They’ll tell you it’s strictly about the money,” Davis said, adding that many recruits would ask the minimum time they would actually have to serve to keep the bonus money. “It’s not a career for them . ... It’s just a job.”
Another former patrol officer-turned-recruiter who recently left the department told the AP that in addition to drawing from other law enforcement agencies and college campuses, recruits were increasingly coming from jobs at fast food drive-thrus. “There were red flags,” said the former recruiter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel and hiring. “They don’t know a felony from a misdemeanor,” Davis said. “They don’t even know right from wrong yet.” Of five officers charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ Jan. 7 beating, two had only a couple of years on the force, and none had more than six years’ experience.