The news cycle continued to overwhelm us with apt outrage over Tyre Nichols’ fatal encounter with police officers in Memphis, Tennessee.

The video is disturbing, sickening in its brutality. The five Black officers have been fired and charged with murder and other crimes in the Jan. 10 death of Nichols, a 29-year-old skateboarder and FedEx worker. He also was the father to a 4-year-old boy.

The scenario has become far too common. According to The Associated Press, nationwide, police have killed roughly three people per day consistently since 2020, according to academics and advocates for police reform who track such deaths.

“The world is watching us,” Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy told the AP. “If there is any silver lining to be drawn from this very dark cloud, it’s that perhaps this incident can open a broader conversation about the need for police reform.”

The Nichols’ case is another glaring reminder that efforts to reform policing have failed to prevent more flashpoints in an intractable epidemic of brutality.

In an effort to get out ahead of criticism being leveled at law enforcement, several Vermont police agencies and stakeholders in law enforcement issued statements condemning the action, but — more to the point — used the moment to reiterate steps that have been taken at a local level. …

Nationwide, states approved nearly 300 police reform bills after Floyd’s murder, creating civilian oversight of police, more anti-bias training, stricter use-of-force limits and alternatives to arrests in cases involving people with mental illnesses, according to a recent analysis by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland. In a joint statement from the Vermont Criminal Justice Council and the Vermont Police Academy, “There are no excuses for these types of police actions. The officers involved have betrayed their department, their oath of office and brought shame on every law enforcement officer nationwide who works diligently to protect the communities being served.”

The statement goes on to say the Vermont overseers “will continue to engage with community stakeholders in ways that align with our values: protection and preservation of human life, treating all with dignity and assuring accountability for each of us.”

Let’s hope that actions speak louder than words.

— Barre-Montpelier (Vermont) Times Argus