MEMPHIS, Tenn — As the investigation into the death of Tyre Nichols continues, many questions still remain about Memphis police culture, practices and training.
Brandon Williams served as an MPD officer for five years, growing up in and patrolling East Memphis. Williams says it was very painful watching some of his fellow officers, two of which he says he personally knew, beating 29-year-old Nichols.
Although he is no longer an officer, Williams said with the oath he and all other MPD officers take comes a responsibility to enforce the law in a respectful and humane manner.
“Regardless of the training that you have," Williams said. "Whether your academy trained you to do this, or not there is a decency of humanity that every human is supposed to have towards another person regardless."
Williams says the officers involved, like him, underwent some of the most rigorous police training in the country.
"For Memphis to have the population that we have and the amount of officers that we have compared to other major cities, the training is almost as long and strenuous as cities who have triple and quadruple the number of officers we have," Williams said.
Williams admits that training isn’t without the need to be reformed. As the fight to improve police practices and protocols continue on a federal, state and city level Williams believes it all starts with rebuilding trust.
"MPD is going to have to do a lot of community relations," Williams said. "The city is going to have to trust the chief again. The city is going to have to trust law enforcement as a unit."
Williams also talked about properly and universally enforcing what police training calls a “force continuum.” The Force Continuum dictates an officer can only apply the same amount of force as they’re given when at a scene.
"Making sure that these people you are hiring aren’t people who have come from other departments and gotten fired," Williams said. "We’ve seen issues where a lot of people who are repeat offenders in these civil rights cases or constitutional rights cases have also violated in other departments, and some departments are sweeping that under the rug."
It’s policing the police as they serve and protect. Williams says policing is not just in funding or budgets.
"We have to keep all departments at a standard to make sure no matter if you’re a police officer in Montana; Memphis, Tennessee or Miami, Florida that we’re all following the same standard," Williams said.
As the fight for justice and police reform continues, this former MPD officer is standing with the family of Tyre Nichols.
"I don't have any words because I can't experience those emotions you are getting through, Williams said. "Just know that you have a whole city behind you, you have a whole city behind you. You have a nation that's reeling with the same emotions that you are."
"We didn't lose our son like you did, so we will continue to respect the boundaries that you create. But just know that we're behind you as a people, as Black people. We're behind you as a city, as the city of Memphis and we're behind you as a country because we want to make sure our police reform [takes place] and what happened to your child doesn't happen to the next mother."