Why can't we have better cops?

Because hiring better cops would be racist, that's why. Just ask the Biden-Harris Administration.

The New York Times news section reports:

3 Former Officers Acquitted of Most Serious Charge in Tyre Nichols’s Death

The former officers were found guilty of witness tampering but not of the charge that would have held them responsible for causing his death.

By Emily Cochrane and Ben Stanley

Reporting from Memphis

Oct. 3, 2024

Three former Memphis police officers were found guilty on Thursday of federal witness tampering charges in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man. But all three defendants were acquitted of the more serious charge of violating his civil rights by causing his death.

One officer, Demetrius Haley, was convicted on a lesser charge of violating Mr. Nichols’s civil rights by causing bodily injury.

The three defendants — Mr. Haley, Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith — and two other former officers who pleaded guilty to their role in the violence, still face additional state charges, including second-degree murder.

The mixed verdict in the federal trial in Memphis comes nearly two years after Mr. Nichols’s death, which sickened many across the nation, who viewed it as the latest example of a young Black man being subjected to excessive force at the hands of the police.

I remember and you probably remember that all five Memphis cops who beat the poor guy to death are black.

But the NYT marketing department doesn’t like it when reporters are quick to remind subscribers of unwelcome facts, so the story withholds that essential news until the 10th paragraph when it finally reveals they are black. Excuse me, Black:

… The trial, which lasted more than three weeks, exposed a culture of secrecy and violence within the Memphis Police Department, where officers held to an unspoken agreement that they could punish anyone who fled from them and downplay the violence. The five officers — all of whom are Black — were part of a team within the specialized Scorpion street crime unit, where arrest statistics and confiscations were a priority.

What goes unmentioned is that Memphis, which is 65% black has a 58% black police department. And that kind of Equity requires an awful lot of affirmative action.

And more affirmative action means worse cops. In Memphis,

…the 2000 process utilized a cutoff score on the written test as an initial hurdle in the promotion process. When not enough African-American candidates passed the written examination, the City lowered the passing score so that 389 of the 444 candidates passed the written examination.

Police academy applicants only had to score in the 12th percentile of job-seekers to pass the written hiring examination.

Think about that.