The Memphis Police Department is under fire after it was revealed that the standard to join the ranks of police officers had been lowered in the past.
The news comes on the heels of the deadly police beating of Tyre Nichols last month and as crime across the city surges. Not only were standards lowered but the department offered incentives in the form of signing bonuses up to $15,000 to encourage people to join the force.
It was also reported that the department provided $10,000 in relocation allowances. Previously, candidates had to have military service, previous experience in policing, or college credit but those qualifications were rolled back.
"They would allow just pretty much anybody to be a police officer because they just want these numbers," Alvin Davis, former lieutenant ini charge of recruiting at the Memphis Police Department, told the Associated Press.
The department had apparently grown desperate to fill hundreds of vacant positions, particularly as more officers quit.
More than 1,350 have quit over the last decade. As a result, the MPD considered hiring applicants with criminal histories. The police academy lowered its timing requirements during physical tests and removed the running portion of its training program because most recruits failed.
"If you lower standards, you can predict that you're going to have problems because we're recruiting from the human race," Ronal Serpas, the former head of police in Nashville and New Orleans, told the AP.
China has flexed its military prowess in a recent large-scale exercise in seas around Taiwan.
A grand jury in Virginia has indicted the mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher.
The FBI recently issued a warning to users to be wary of public device charging stations that you might find in places like hotels or airports over fears that criminals
More than 200 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have returned home in a prisoner swap, the warring countries said Monday.
A 23-year-old bank employee armed with a rifle opened fire at his Louisville workplace Monday morning, killing five people — including a close friend of the governor — while livestreaming the attack, authorities said.
King Charles III will be taking a shorter ride to Westminster Abbey, trimming the procession route his mother took in 1953 as he aims for a more modest coronation that will include some modern touches.
Thousands of professors, part-time lecturers and graduate student workers at New Jersey’s flagship university have gone on strike — the first such job action in the school’s 257-year history.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said "Everything is on the table" when asked if he'd recommend that the FDA ignore Friday's ruling to reverse the agency's nearly 23-year-old approval of the medication abortion drug mifepristone.
For the 12th straight month, global food prices fell, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Tara Hannant couldn't wait for the moment her two-year-old Rory \would meet his new brother. She said the toddler was just as excited as she was, and he even showed up to the hospital with gifts in hand.
