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Tyre Nichols was killed by a group of police officers on Jan. 7 in Memphis, Tennessee. His brutal beatdown was caught on video and finally released Friday. The shocking video sparked a new wave of police brutality protests, with angry people taking to streets to vent their frustrations and rage at a broken, corrupt system.
Are we doomed to repeat a cycle of police killings and civil unrest indefinitely?
It’s been 2 1/2 years since the riots over George Floyd’s death. Out of the fires of those events emerged a deep-seated distrust and resentment for police officers. That summer, a wave of “defund the police” movements swept the country, and for a while, there were serious talks of reform.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., sponsored a bill to end no-knock raids, and a few cities slashed their police budgets.
As the outrage faded, though, many citizens reasoned that communities do need police officers – they just need a way to hold them accountable. An obvious solution would be an end to qualified immunity, which shields police and other public officials from civil lawsuits over actions they’ve taken as part of their job.
Unfortunately, there is one powerful force that stands in the way of that much-needed goal: police unions.
Tyre Nichols’ life mattered:Killing shows that to some cops, even Black ones, Black lives don’t matter
USA TODAY Editorial Board:Police should stop making minor traffic stops that too often turn into major tragediesPublic unions block change
We spend a tremendous amount of energy focused on elections, but government employee unions, known as public unions, have a near stranglehold on the day-to-day operations of our government.
