PENNSYLVANIA, USA — After Memphis police released 67 minutes of video showing the beating of Tyre Nichols prior to his death, law enforcement agencies in southcentral Pa. responded.
"I watched the video and I was appalled by it," Lancaster County Chiefs of Police Association President Kerry Nye said. "That was not police work."
Nye is also the Lititz Borough Police Chief. He says annual instruction to handle tough situations through the Municipal Police Officer's Education and Training Commission helps avoid incidents like the one in Memphis.
"Officers are trained to make sure they intervene if they see another officer doing something that's inappropriate," Nye said. "They have the ability and the duty to intervene, and to stop that interaction or stop whatever would be violence towards someone else."
The Active Bystanders for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project is a newer initiative that promotes intervention to prevent misconduct and missteps by police.
"That's another training and officers can do to make sure they know how to intervene and should intervene when they see that something's not correct," Nye said.
Additional efforts at the state level include more funding for body and dash cams to hold officers accountable.
Nye says departments across the region continue to work to improve policing in their communities.
"We have made leaps and bounds, but we have more to go," Nye said. "I just hope as administrators and other professionals, we're moving towards that."
The Newberry Township Police Department in York County released a statement calling the incident "unacceptable" and "egregiously wrong."
Lancaster City Police also weighed in, highlighting efforts to better serve the community through "intentional shifts in policy and practice."
Carlisle Borough Police and the mayor addressed the deadly beating in a joint Facebook post:
Nye also says many departments are moving towards accreditation with the state, meaning they meet more than 130 standards with the state.
The Pa. Commission on Crime and Delinquency website currently lists 36 local law enforcement agencies in the 10-county coverage area having that accreditation from the state.