Very timely article in the NYT and related to the murder of Tyre Nichols. I've seen similar behavior in the metro-Phoenix area.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/u...2cf20044942d84
"Since its formation in November 2021, the specialized squad of some 40 officers that was deployed to deter violence in some of the city’s most troubled neighborhoods was responsible for repeated acts of intimidation, harassment and violence by some of its officers, according to interviews with dozens of people in the community, including several arrested by the unit’s officers."
"The Scorpion unit was “terrorizing this city,” Ms. Ray said, and Mr. Nichols’s death was “not the first time that they be beating on people — it was the first time that they messed up.""
This is not to say they were not effective.
"To city officials, the arrests and seizures that the Scorpions tallied on a near-daily basis signaled that the unit was achieving its mission in a city that had endured more than 300 homicides in 2021, a record. The city soon began touting the Scorpions’ hundreds of arrests, its seizures of scores of drugs, guns, vehicles and cash — with Memphis police noting on Facebook the unit’s role in high-profile cases, often posting photos of items that officers had confiscated."
The problem here is they act no differently than the thugs they are supposedly protecting the public from. Cops have a tough job, but they must remember they are there to protect and serve, not terrorize their communities by out thugging the criminals they are investigating.