Tyre Nichols Beaten To Death by Disgraceful Thugs
The sudden and unthinkable death of Tyre Nichols, caused by him being beaten by five police officers, has left a lot of people shocked, angry, and confused.
It’s important to acknowledge these feelings as they come up, as Tyre was killed by disgraceful thugs.
I have trained police officers around the world on how to be better leaders, and I’d like to share some thoughts.
Here are five underlying issues that may have led to Tyre’s death:
❌ SYSTEMIC: Like any ‘system’, the police officer community has both good and bad people. While some cities and departments have come a long way, other communities and cities remain thoroughly corrupt. Sadly, unfortunately, and unthinkably, Memphis was one of the ones that was still thoroughly corrupt.
❌ CULTURAL: Police officers are given authority, which is a privilege. Some of them abuse that privilege. There is a cultural idea that police officers are to be feared, and the bad cops take advantage of this by acting like they’re above the law with a ‘God complex’. The truth is that police officers are not above the law, and they are not better than anyone else. They are there to protect and serve as a member of the community.
❌ LEADERSHIP: I’ve shared in hundreds of LinkedIn posts about the bad leadership in the corporate world. There’s also bad leadership in the police force, which is why police departments pay keynote speakers like me to come in and help the officers improve their leadership. When we look at the five disgraceful thugs who beat Tyre to death, they weren’t trained properly. They didn’t have proper leadership.
❌ HIRING CHALLENGES: A lot of police departments are struggling with staff shortages. Being a police officer is challenging and departments are struggling to hire. This then leads to hiring bad people as cops. For example, one of the cops who beat up Tyre had illegally beaten someone up in the past, yet got away with it. The song by The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy For The Devil”, has a new meaning now. Here are some lyrics from the song: “Just as every cop is a criminal, and all the sinners saints…” These five cops were criminals and Tyre, who was made to be a “sinner” by the cops, was a beautiful and wonderful soul. THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE TO PROTECT THE NEIGHBORHOOD. It’s better to have no cops than bad cops.
❌ BROKEN WORLD: Surrounding all these other challenges is a broken world. A world where people stand by and do nothing. A world where people don’t care. A world where people have no empathy. A world where insane things keep happening, yet it’s not enough for real change to occur.
These five cops are murderers, and they must be brought to justice. It’s also important that real change is enacted so something like this never happens again.
Empathy Goes Both Ways
We’re talking here about the need for police reform, and rightfully so. At the same time, it’s important to remember that empathy is a two way street. There ARE good police officers out there – I know this as a fact because I’ve met them. As we encounter police officers in our daily lives, either by chance encounter or because we need their help, let’s remember that they have extremely difficult jobs. They’ve seen and been exposed to things that most people can’t even imagine, and they are often disrespected by others.
One of the saddest and most tragic things here is that the bad eggs – the corrupt officers like the ones who killed Tyre – don’t represent the group as a whole. Let’s not stereotype police officers and instead take each officer as an individual.
Having empathy for police officers does not excuse bad behavior – rather, it does just the opposite, as it helps to support officers and empower them to be role models.
Let’s Look at Police Reform From a Leadership Perpsective
The above root causes that I mentioned are all important. I’d like to highlight the leadership aspect because I’m a leadership expert.
Police departments need to be willing to invest in leadership training. I know budgets are tight these days, but the return on investment is HUGE when you bring in the right leadership expert. For example, when I spoke in 2022 at several different conferences and events to police officers from around the world, I received incredibly positive feedback. Officers told me they found the keynote life-changing and really helpful. Many were taking notes and said they appreciated how practical and helpful my content was. I say this not to impress you, but rather to impress upon you a genuine sense of how valuable it is that we properly train officers on how to lead. Consider bringing in me or any legitimate leadership expert to train your officers, as it makes all the difference in the world.
PLEASE NOTE: Officers are not the easiest to get through to, emotionally speaking. This is not at all a knock on officers, but rather an acknowledgement of how challenging and emotionally draining their jobs are (I truly respect what these officers go through, especially the ones who do their jobs the right way). I know that when I talked about the severe abuse I experienced at the beginning of my leadership keynote, it really connected with the officers. A lot of police officers said they appreciated my vulnerability and openness, and it inspired them to start talking about their challenges more.
Like every other human being on planet earth, officers have their emotional walls based on their unique set of challenges. The key is showing them another way to handle their challenges. Instead of stabbing other people in the back, they can learn to let go of their hidden agendas and start collaborating with others. Once they get this mindset and way of being down pat, it becomes a whole lot more natural for them to start doing their jobs with integrity.
Remember this: crises don’t change people. They bring out people’s true colors. Instead of not training officers and waiting for a crisis to hit, train the officers BEFORE the crisis happens. Teach them what to do and how to respond. When this happens they’ll be able to rely on their training in these challenging situations, instead of acting out of impulse and/or fear. Practice makes perfect. The more officers have room to experiment and make mistakes in the training sessions, the better they’ll be in the real world when shit hits the fan.
This post is only the tip of the iceberg. I’d love to know your thoughts on the root causes of what happened in the comments below.
Jeff Davis is the author of The Power of Authentic Leadership. To bring Jeff in to speak on authentic leadership, mental health, and/or resiliency to your police department, please contact Jeff’s Executive Assistant via meg@jeffdspeaks.com.
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