German arms-maker Rheinmetall is ready to greatly boost the output of tank and artillery munitions to satisfy strong demand in Ukraine and the West, and may start producing HIMARS multiple rocket launchers in Germany, CEO Armin Papperger told Reuters.

He spoke days before Germany’s defence industry bosses are due to meet new defence minister Boris Pistorius for the first time, though the exact date has yet to be announced.

With the meeting, Pistorius aims to kick off talks on how to speed up weapons procurement and boost ammunitions supplies in the long term after almost a year of arms donations to Ukraine has depleted the German military’s stocks.

Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE) makes a range of defence products but is probably most famous for manufacturing the 120mm gun of the Leopard 2 tank.

“We can produce 240,000 rounds of tank ammunition (120mm) per year, which is more than the entire world needs,” Papperger said in an interview with Reuters.

The capacity for the production of 155mm artillery rounds can be ramped up to 450,000 to 500,000 per year, he added, which would make Rheinmetall the biggest producer for both kinds of ammunition.

In 2022, Rheinmetall made some 60,000 to 70,000 rounds each of tank and artillery shells, according to Papperger, who said production could be boosted immediately.

Demand for these munitions has soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, not only due to their massive use on the battlefield but also as Western militaries backfill their own stocks, bracing for what they see as a heightened threat from Moscow.

Papperger said a new production line for medium calibre ammunition, used by German-built Gepard anti-aircraft tanks in Ukraine for example, would go live by mid-year.

Germany has been trying for months to find new munitions for the Gepard that its own military had decomissioned in 2010.

At the same time, Rheinmetall is in talks with Lockheed Martin(LMT.N), the U.S. company manufacturing the HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) multiple rocket launchers in heavy use with Ukrainian troops, Papperger said.

“At the Munich Security Conference, we aim to strike an agreement with Lockheed Martin to kick off a HIMARS production (in Germany),” he said, referring to an annual gathering of political and defence leaders in mid-February.

“We have the technology for the production of the warheads as well as for the rocket motors – and we have the trucks to mount the launchers upon,” Papperger said, adding a deal may prompt investments of several hundred million euros of which Rheinmetall would finance a major part.

Rheinmetall also eyes the operation of a new powder plant, possibly in the eastern German state of Saxony, but the investment of 700 to 800 million euros would have to be footed by the government in Berlin, he said.

“The state has to invest, and we contribute our technological know-how. In return, the state gets a share of the plant and the profits it makes,” Papperger suggested.

“This is an investment that is not feasible for the industry on its own. It is an investment into national security, and therefore we need the federal state,” he said.

The plant is needed as shortages in the production of special powders could turn out to be a bottleneck, hampering efforts to boost the output of tank and artillery shells, he noted.

A few days before the meeting with the new defence minister, Papperger pushed for an increase of Germany’s defence budget.

“The 51 billion euros in the defence budget will not suffice to purchase everything that is needed. And the money in the 100 billion euro special funds has already been earmarked – and partially been eaten up by inflation,” he said.

“100 billion euros sounds like a giant sum but we would actually need a 300 billion euro package to order everything that’s needed,” he added, noting that the 100 billion special fund does not include ammunitions purchases.

Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany was 20 billion euros short of reaching NATO’s target for ammunitions stockpiling, according to a defence source.

To plug the munitions gap alone, Papperger estimates the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) would need to invest three to four billion euros per year.

In the talks with the minister, the defence boss hopes for a turn towards a more sustainable long-term planning in German procurement, stretching several years into the future, as the industry needed to be able to make its arrangements in time.

“What we are doing at the moment is actually war stocking: Last year, we prefinanced 600 to 700 million euros for goods,” Papperger said. “We must move away from this crisis management – it is crisis management when you buy (raw materials and other things) without having a contract – and get into a regular routine.”

(This story has been refiled to insert the word ‘million’, making clear sum involved is 600 to 700 million euros, in the final paragraph.)

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When Worst Lady Melania Trump donated her inaugural gown to the Smithsonian in October 2017, she proudly exclaimed, “This piece is one of the many new beginnings of our family’s history here in Washington. The President, Barron and I all love it here.” When it became her turn on Wednesday, First Lady Jill Biden took a starkly different tone, choosing instead to focus on the unity of Americans and overcoming the nation’s challenges.

Biden was the first to donate her inaugural gown as well as her day dress for the inauguration ceremony. In another historic first, Biden donated the pandemic face masks she wore with each outfit, a reflection of “the enormity of what we faced at the time,” she explained in a ceremony on Wednesday. Biden also pointed out that the masks stand for “the moments of courage and kindness” that helped America through the darkest times.

Regarding her outfits, Biden explained that she was aiming to wear something that reflected the “passion, creativity, and hope” inspired by the record number of votes for her husband. Biden’s evening gown represented unity, embroidered with the flowers of each state and territory (with Delaware “just above my heart”).

Looking back at Melania’s greatest hits when it comes to failed fashion statements, there’s the insensitive (at best) pith helmet, a symbol of colonial rule in Africa, that she wore in a visit to Kenya. There’s also the donning of a jacket with the message “I REALLY DON’T CARE. DO U?” while en route to meet immigrant children who were ripped apart from their families at a border detention center.

By contrast, Jill Biden described her inauguration dresses as a “voice for me,” wishing that they will help her tell the story of “what we as Americans experienced together: of hope, and of love, and unity that we held onto and how we let those values guide us forward.” Biden also took the opportunity to express her optimism, to great applause, for a certain type of progress that America has already come frustratingly close to achieving: “I look forward to adding some menswear to this gallery in the future.”

The post Dr. Jill Biden just nailed it appeared first on Palmer Report.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, center, listens during the vote for Speaker of the House on the opening day of the 118th Congress at the US Capitol on January 3, 2023.

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

• AOC could potentially be the vice ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, per Politico.
• “There’s been conversations, but nothing’s been finalized,” Ocasio-Cortez told the news outlet.
• If AOC were to assume the role, she’d work closely with Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could become the second-highest ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee in the 118th Congress, according to Politico.

If the high-profile New York Democrat, now in her third term in office, were to ascend to the position of vice ranking member, she would become a key figure in going up against some of the Republican Party’s most sought-out investigations against the Biden administration, from probing presidential son Hunter Biden’s business relationships to Republicans’ efforts to tie the Bidens to the Chinese government.

“There’s been conversations, but nothing’s been finalized,” Ocasio-Cortez told Politico of the position.

If she were to assume the role, she would help to craft messaging to counter the Republican majority on the panel.

And Ocasio-Cortez enjoys a strong working relationship with Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the Democratic ranking member of the committee

“I have the greatest admiration for her skill, and I’m sure we’re going to be able to deploy her to maximum effect on the committee, along with all these other amazing new members,” he told the news outlet, while not confirming whether she would serve under him in the leadership role.

Masih Alinejad, Iranian journalist and women’s rights activist, poses for a picture in New York City, New York, U.S., September 27, 2022.

REUTERS/Roselle Chen

• Three men were indicted on charges of money laundering and murder-for-hire, the DOJ said.
• The target, Masih Alinejad, told The Associated Press the FBI read her the messages the men exchanged.
• The indictment did not say if the Iranian regime was directly involved in the murder order.

The Justice Department on Friday announced charges against three men authorities believe are part of an Eastern European criminal organization who planned to murder an Iranian author and activist living in exile in New York City.

Rafat Amirov, 43, of Iran; Polad Omarov, 38, of the Czech Republic and Slovenia; and Khalid Mehdiyev, 24, of Yonkers, New York; were charged with money laundering and murder-for-hire, the DOJ said in a statement.

While the DOJ did not reveal the identity of the activist, Masih Alinejad confirmed on Twitter that she was the target.

—Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 27, 2023

“Yeah this the face of a person who was the target of a assassination plot,” Alinejad said. “Let me make it clear, I’m not scared for my life because I knew that killing, assassinating, hanging, torturing, raping, is in the DNA of the Islamic Republic.”

Alinejad told The Associated Press that the FBI read her the messages the men exchanged,

“I’m not scared,” Alinejad told the AP. “I want to tell you that the Iranian regime thinks by trying to kill me, they will silence me, or silence other women. But they only strengthen me, make me more powerful to fight for democracy and give voice to brave women who are facing guns and bullets in the streets to get rid of the Islamic Republic.”

While the man behind the plot is in Iran, the DOJ indictment did not say whether the Iranian government was behind the plot.

“The Victim in this case was targeted for exercising the rights to which every American citizen is entitled. The Victim publicized the Iranian Government’s human rights abuses; discriminatory treatment of women; suppression of democratic participation and expression; and use of arbitrary imprisonment, torture, and execution,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

According to the DOJ, the criminal organization was tasked with murdering Alinejad, who has previously been the target of “plots by the Government of Iran to intimidate, harass and kidnap” her. The attempted murder-for-hire plan had been active since at least July 2022.  

The attempt was part of continuing plots and threats against the Brooklyn-based journalist and author. In July 2021, the DOJ charged four Iranian intelligence officials in an attempted kidnapping of Alinejad. 

“Today’s indictment exposes a dangerous menace to national security — a double threat posed by a vicious transnational crime group operating from what it thought was the safe haven of a rogue nation: Iran,” US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. “As national security and criminal threats continue to blend, the Department of Justice will use all its tools to zealously protect freedom and hold accountable all those who would use violence to undermine it.”

Maggie Perkins, 30, spent years as a teacher before her burnout forced her to quit. Now, she’s enjoying life as a Costco employee.

Maggie Perkins

• Former teacher Maggie Perkins, 30, is now an employee at Costco after quitting her career.
• Perkins says she’s much happier at her new job and no longer fears for her life.
• In August, Perkins told Insider she’d spent two years quiet quitting her teaching job due to burnout.

A former teacher who left her career in education to work at a local Costco now she says her life has improved massively. 

Maggie Perkins quit her teaching job in 2020 after two years of “quiet quitting” because “the conditions were not sustainable to have a quality of  life,” she told Insider in August. She said while passionate about teaching, she was burnt out and working 60-hour weeks for under $50,000 for five years. 

Perkins had been a public and private school teacher in Georgia and Florida during her career, working with sixth-grade through high school students. 

Now, the 30-year-old is working in the membership department at her local Costco and loving it, she told Fox Business this week.

“We grew up going to Costcos, and so I’ve always known that Costco employees are treated well and have a high quality of life. So when there was a new Costco being built in my town, I immediately applied,” Perkins said in the interview.

She shared her story to TikTok and has garnered over 4 million views since posting the video in December. Perkins said she most days as a teacher “surviving every moment,” according to one video.

“I do not miss it at all,” she said in the caption. “My pace of my work life now is so much better, I am not sick or exhausted like I used to be when I was a teacher.”

In a more recent post about how she felt about her new gig, Perkins said she no longer fears for her life or lies awake a night. She also pursued at PhD at the University of Georgia while teaching, but now Perkins said she is focused on her current career, BuzzFeed reported.

“My passion couldn’t pay my bills, and my passion couldn’t help me sleep at night when I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Perkins said in the Fox interview.

The specialized police unit that included least some of the Memphis officers involved in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols was disbanded on Saturday, the police department announced, as more protests were planned in U.S. cities a day after harrowing video of the attack was released.

In a statement, the department said it was permanently deactivating the SCORPION unit after the police chief spoke with members of Nichols’ family, community leaders and other officers.

Video recordings from police body-worn cameras and a camera mounted on a utility pole showed Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, repeatedly calling “Mom!” as officers kicked, punched and struck him with a baton in his mother’s neighborhood after a Jan. 7 traffic stop. He was hospitalized and died of his injuries three days later.

The release of the clips on Friday sparked protests in Memphis and elsewhere and prompted numerous cities to prepare for additional demonstrations on Saturday.

Nichols’ family and officials, including President Joe Biden, have expressed outrage and sorrow but have urged protesters to remain peaceful. Demonstrations so far have been free of violence.

Five officers involved in the beating, all Black, were charged on Thursday with murder, assault, kidnapping and other charges. All have been dismissed from the department.

In Memphis on Saturday, protesters chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets!” angrily catcalled a police car that was monitoring the march, with several making obscene gestures. Some cheered loudly when they learned of the disbandment of SCORPION.

The unit, the Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in our Neighborhoods, was formed in October 2021 to concentrate on crime hot spots. Critics say such specialized teams can be prone to abusive tactics.

Taken together, the four video clips showed police pummeling Nichols even though he appeared to pose no threat. The initial traffic stop was for reckless driving, though the police chief has said the cause for the stop has not been substantiated.

Friends and family say Nichols was an affable, talented skateboarder who grew up in Sacramento, California, and moved to Memphis before the coronavirus pandemic. The father of a 4-year-old child, Nichols worked at FedEx and had recently enrolled in a photography class.

Nate Spates Jr., 42, was part of a circle of friends, including Nichols, who met up at a local Starbucks.

“He liked what he liked, and he marched to the beat of his own drum,” Spates said, remembering that Nichols would go to a park called Shelby Farms to watch the sunset when he wasn’t working a late shift.

Nichols’ death is the latest high-profile example of police using excessive force against Black people and other minorities. The 2020 murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes, galvanized worldwide protests over racial injustice.

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Germany and the United States have recently made headlines by deciding to send tanks to Ukraine. However, the unsung hero behind this landmark decision was actually Poland. Polish leaders were instrumental in efforts to persuade Berlin in particular of the need to provide Ukraine with modern tanks. This was the latest example of Polish leadership over the past year as Europe has found itself confronted by the continent’s largest armed conflict since World War II.

Poland’s leading role in the European response to Putin’s invasion reflects the country’s extensive experience of Russian imperialism in both its Czarist and Soviet forms. Ever since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, politicians in Warsaw have been warning Europe of the growing threat posed by a resurgent and revisionist Russia.

The Poles have been particularly alarmed by indications of deepening ties between Berlin and Moscow, and were vocal opponents of German partnership in Russia’s Nord Stream II gas pipeline. Polish politicians saw this strategic energy infrastructure project as a modern-day successor to the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which sparked the outbreak of World War II and the invasion of Poland by the Nazi and Soviet regimes. They warned that the pipeline allowed Putin to bypass Ukraine’s gas transit system and would expose the country to a full-scale invasion, while leaving the whole of Europe vulnerable to Russian energy blackmail. Germany chose to ignore these warnings until the eve of Russia’s February 2022 attack.

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Today’s prominent Polish role in European security policy is not entirely new. Since joining NATO in 1999, Poland has emerged as a security linchpin on the alliance’s eastern flank. This has been possible thanks to Poland’s strategic location and remarkable economic growth, which has helped fund the rapid modernization and expansion of the country’s armed forces. The Polish army is currently ranked as the world’s twentieth most powerful military.

Poland has in many ways set the standard for Europe’s humanitarian response to the Russian attack on Ukraine. Since the invasion began, Poland has welcomed more Ukrainian refugees than any other European country, while also providing a range of benefits such as access to healthcare and education along with employment possibilities. During the past year, the Polish authorities have registered more than 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees.

Poland is also a leading contributor of military aid to Ukraine. In per capita terms, Poland has actually sent more military aid to Ukraine than virtually any country other than the Baltic states. This aid has included hundreds of tanks and other crucial weaponry. Poland plays a vital role in the logistical efforts to deliver international military aid to Ukraine, enabling a global coalition of countries to supply the Ukrainian army with the weapons, equipment, and ammunition it needs.

Diplomatically, Poland has been at the forefront of calls for tougher sanctions against Russia. Most recently, Polish leaders pressed Berlin to deliver German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allow others to do so. When German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hesitated, Poland threatened to export dozens of German-made Leopard tanks in defiance of German re-export restrictions. “We will not just watch Ukraine bleed,” commented Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. “It now depends on Germany whether they want to join the mission and stop Russian barbarism, or whether they choose to silently observe and go down in history as those who were on the wrong side.”

Germany eventually relented but the incident, along with the Nord Stream 2 saga, has diminished Berlin’s stature. Germany’s apparent ambivalence toward a predatory Russia and Berlin’s ties to the Kremlin have allowed Poland to assume a position of moral leadership on issues of European security. This has included criticism of Austria and Hungary for allegedly pandering to Putin. Poland has also called out Germany for foot-dragging over sanctions. In April 2022, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused Germany of “standing in the way” of harder sanctions against Russia. “Anyone who reads the notes of EU meetings knows that Germany is the biggest impediment when it comes to more decisive sanctions,” he told journalists in Warsaw.

Polish leadership is helping to fill a geopolitical vacuum created by the declining influence of Europe’s traditionally dominant foreign policy forces. Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, greatly reducing the UK’s ability to shape Europe’s response to the Russian threat. Meanwhile, throughout his reign, Putin has demonstrated an ability to co-opt French and German politicians and businessmen with trade deals, pipelines, and other incentives. It is no coincidence that the Russian dictator handpicked Germany and France in 2014 to participate in the Normandy Format talks to end the war sparked by Russia in eastern Ukraine. This approach resulted in the failed Minsk Agreements and set the stage for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Poland is now attempting to warn the wider world about the danger posed by Putin’s Russia. “This is not just a regional conflict. Russia’s war against Ukraine is a potential source of global conflagration. This war will affect our countries as well as yours, if it hasn’t already,” Polish President Andrzej Duda told the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022.

Polish leadership of the European response to Putin’s invasion is forging unprecedented bonds between the Polish and Ukrainian people. These two nations have had their share of fights and historical disagreements in the past. However, they now find themselves united by the existential threat coming from today’s Russia. Ukrainian opinion polls regularly identify Poland as the country’s closest partner.

While the Kremlin cynically cloaks its genocidal invasion of Ukraine in the language of Slavic brotherhood, it is Ukraine’s fellow Slavic neighbors in Poland who have demonstrated truly brotherly support. This will shape the future geopolitical landscape of the region. Once Russia is defeated, Ukraine will likely deepen its partnership with Poland to form a powerful bloc within European politics. Together, the two nations will have an authoritative voice in the wider democratic world. Europe’s geopolitical center of gravity is shifting eastward, and Poland is leading the way.

Diane Francis is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, editor-at-large with the National Post in Canada, author of ten books, and author of a newsletter on America.

Further reading

The views expressed in UkraineAlert are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

The post Poland is leading Europe’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine appeared first on Atlantic Council.

Recent reports of Lockbit locker-based attacks against North European SMBs indicate that local crooks started using Lockbit locker variants.

Executive Summary

• During the past months, the Lockbit gang reached very high popularity in the underground ecosystem.
• The recent Hive infrastructure takedown as well as other major gangs dissolution such as Conti in 2022, is making room in the cybercrime business 
• The Lockbit locker leaked a few months ago in the underground, is increasing its popularity and adoption among micro-criminal actors.
• Recent reports of Lockbit locker-based extortions against North European SMBs indicate that local cyber-criminal gangs started adopting Lockbit locker variants.

Incident Insights

Recently, there has been a significant increase in ransomware attacks targeting companies in northern Europe. These attacks are being carried out using the LockBit locker, which is known to be in use by the homonymous criminal affiliation program. The Lockbit group has been targeting companies of all sizes and across a wide range of industries, causing significant disruptions and financial losses.

One of the most concerning aspects of these recent attacks is the way in which they are being conducted. The LockBit Locker group is known for using a combination of advanced techniques, even phishing, and also social engineering, to gain initial access to a company’s network. Once they have access, they use a variety of tools and techniques to move laterally throughout the network, compromising systems and stealing sensitive data.

One of the most recent attacks was reported by Computerland in Belgium against SMBs in the country, but according to the company they were targeted by a group of cybercriminals who appeared to be using a variant of the LockBit locker malware. However, upon further investigation, it was discovered that these attackers were not likely related to the real LockBit group, but rather “wannabes” who had obtained a leaked version of the malware.

Despite not being the true LockBit Locker group, these micro criminals were still able to cause significant damage by encrypting a large number of internal files. However, the company was able to restore its network from backups and no client workstations were affected during the intrusions.

Among the increasing popularity of extortion practices in the criminal underground, even among less sophisticated actors, this incident also highlights the dangers of outdated software and systems.

In fact, in this case, the attackers were able to exploit unpatched vulnerabilities in the company’s FortiGate firewall. Unpached FortiGate firewalls have several vulnerabilities that are currently exploited by cybercriminals according to the CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, but in these recent cases, the exploited flaws were the infamous “Fortifuck” flaws straight back from 2018.

Those flaws have been exploited through unattended exposure through a company’s branch internet gateway. These network gateways are often less well-protected than the company’s main network and typically provide an easier entry point for attackers.

In conclusion, the recent ransomware attacks targeting North European SMBs companies are a serious concern for many reasons: despite the reduced effectiveness due to the lack of experience of the criminal operators, the targeted industries suffered important outages and data exfiltration.

Threat Actor Brief

LockBit is a well-known ransomware affiliation program started back in September 2019, where the developers use third parties to spread the ransomware by hiring unethical penetration testing teams. The gang was one of the first gangs operating double extortion practices and supporting such attacks with dedicated toolkits such as the Stealbit malware.

During his infamous career, Lockbit operators hit high-value targets such as Accenture and Royal Mail, but also a large number of small and medium businesses worldwide. Once an environment is infected, the victim is sent to the gang payment site managed by the ransomware developers who threaten to leak the victim’s data to extort further payments.

About the author: Luca Mella, Cyber Security Expert, Response & Threat Intel | Manager

In 2019, Luca was mentioned as one of the “32 Influential Malware Research Professionals”. He is a former member of the ANeSeC CTF team, one of the firsts Italian cyber wargame teams born back in 2011.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Lockbit)

The post Copycat Criminals mimicking Lockbit gang in northern Europe appeared first on Security Affairs.

(NewsNation) — A specialized police unit known as the Scorpion Unit, to which the officers facing murder charges in the death of Tyre Nichols belonged, has been deactivated, according to a statement from the Memphis police department.

“In the process of listening intently to the family of Tyre Nichols, community leaders, and the uninvolved officers who have done quality work in their assignments, it is in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the SCORPION Unit,” the statement said. “The officers currently assigned to the unit agree unreservedly with this next step.”

On Friday, the Nichols family called for the disbanding of the Scorpion Unit.

“The police chief should disband the Scorpion Unit immediately,” Benjamin Crump, an attorney representing Nichols’ family, said, “Other citizens have come to my office and said their constitutional right was violated by the Scorpion unit.”

Nichols was beaten during a traffic stop on Jan. 7 and died in police custody three days later. All five officers involved in his arrest are facing murder charges. The officers were assigned to a team called Scorpion Squad.

The Scorpion Squad is a specialized unit started in 2021 to fight crime by targeting problem areas in the city and flooding them with officers. They often work undercover in unmarked cars.

The Memphis police created the Scorpion Unit in the fall of 2021, It consisted of a unit of four 10-person teams focused on violent-crime reduction in the city’s crime “hot spots.”

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said the unit made 566 arrests, 390 of which were felony arrests, from October 2021 through Jan. 23, 2022.

It also seized 253 weapons during that time frame.

“While the heinous actions of a few casts a cloud of dishonor on the title SCORPION, it is imperative that we, the Memphis Police Department take proactive steps in the healing process for all impacted,” the statement said.

Attorneys representing the Nichols family called into question the operations of this unit, wondering why those officers are even conducting traffic stops.

“The intent of the Scorpion unit has now been corrupted,” said Antonio Romanucci, an attorney representing the Nichols family.