This open letter to the citizens of Statesboro addressing the murder of Tyre Nichols was written by Statesboro Police Chief Mike Broadhead. Grice Connect is publishing the letter in its entirety below:
By now, most of you have seen video footage from the Memphis Police Department regarding the murder of Tyre Nichols, and once again our nation is faced with outrage and calls for police reform. Let's be clear on one thing: the behavior exhibited by the Memphis officers was not "policing"; it was out right criminal behavior.
How do we prevent this kind of behavior from recurring? We need police leaders to adhere to some basic principles of Police Management 101. There are three critical components necessary to ensure appropriate police behavior:
- Good policy development (and enforcement of those policies through formal disciplinary practices). This entails everything from how you hire, how you guide, and how you hold officers accountable.
- Training. The requirement for relevant, on-going training for all officers is critical. You spend this time educating officers about policy and this is how you provide them guidance on how to be skillful and to have many "tools" in their toolbox. This is how you ensure officers are competent, understand the law, and have the confidence to de-escalate volatile situations
- Supervision. Police officers are human beings and are prone to error simply because they are humans. Having supervisors on hand to make spot corrections helps to enforce policy, ensure we are not missing training gaps, and to be a resource for officers. Supervision cannot just happen "in the moment" it has to be ever present. Supervisors need to be reviewing body camera footage even in non-critical moments to ensure officer behavior is appropriate and meeting the needs of the community and department.
We trust police officers with wide discretion and ask them to go out in the street and help citizens solve problems.
We can't just "let them go", we need to guide them and hold them accountable, we need to train them properly, and we need to provide effective supervision. Unfortunately, these three critical components all appear to be lacking in the videos from Memphis PD. These "officers" were acting with impunity; they weren't worried about a use of force review or that a supervisor would show up, let alone review their body camera afterward.
These problems are correctable. We need great officers performing hard jobs with the appropriate amount of guidance, accountability, training, and supervision.
We aren't perfect at the Statesboro Police Department. We're human and prone to error. But we are doing all we can to mitigate the errors through appropriate policy guidance (and adherence), on-going training, and by promoting amazing supervisors. I'm really proud of the work our officers and staff are doing every day to help the citizens of our community. I hope you are too.
Charles "Mike" Broadhead, SPD Chief of Police
