overnight success. at the end of last year, chief davis created the street crimes operation to restore peace in our neighborhood unit, scorpion, this addresses violent crimes that occurred throughout our city. since its inception this past october threw three days ago, the scorpion unit has had a total of 566 arrests, 390 of them for felonies. they have seized $103,000 in cash, 270 vehicles, and 253 weapons. officials say the memphis police department uses crime data to determine which neighborhoods to deploy the cities scorpion teams. but activists say special units like scorpion tend to target low income communities, conducting mass pull overs in those neighborhoods. those units have proliferated and cities across the country as a kind of tough on crime strategy. but there have long been complaints about those special units and in memphis, president
reporter: launched with fanfare in 2021, the memphis police department s now defunct scorpion unit was among the first major initiatives by new memphis police chief c.j. davis only a few months on the job. too many families, too many mothers, too many fathers have suffered in our city. and quite frankly, i think we are all tired of it. reporter: faced with rising murder rates and a spike in violent thefts, the street crimes operation to restore peace in our neighborhoods was her response. 40 officers who would patrol high crime areas, often in plain clothes with a mandate to deliver arrests. the scorpion unit has had a total of 566 arrests, 390 of them for felonies. they have seized $103,000 in cash, 270 vehicles and 253 weapons. reporter: now after five members of the unit were caught on video and charged with murder in the violent beating of tyre
threats thefts. the street crimes operation to restore peace in our neighborhood, was a response. 40 officers who would patrol high crime areas, often in plain clothes, with a mandate to deliver arrests. the scorpion unit has had a total of 566 arrests 390 of once with banter in 2021 the memphis police department now defunct scorpion unit was among the first major initiatives by new memphis police chief, cj davis. only a few months on the job.
the scorpion unit has had a total of 566 arrests 390 of them for felonies they have seized $103,000 in cash 270 vehicles, and to hundred 53 weapons. now after five member s of the unit work on a video and charged with murder in the violent beating of tyre nichols it s been disbanded. specialized units have existed in both of and generating pr opportunities for politicians, you re to appear tough on crime. i m glad to hear that ian s been disbanded, i think we should probably be s taking a serious look at these specialized units, both in memphis and around the country. this kind of so-called elite police squad is not a new idea. so, some cities are taking
brutal treatment? you re going to stay on top of this. it has a very as i understand it, sketchy track record. well, we re hearing that certainly from people in the community. you were there. people would come up to us wanting to talk to us about this scorpion unit. of course, the scorpion unit. we should remind people, the name this name is even getting so much scrutiny. why you would use a name like scorpion? what it substance for is street crimes operations to restore peace in our neighborhood. and the mayor was touting this, you know, that s crime fighting tool. they saw a large number of arrests in just two months from the time it was created until january and november 2021 is when it was created. and they saw nearly 566 arrests. that s a lot of arrests. created because there was a high crime rate and they wanted to tamp down on it, especially