Many of you may have missed this story since the local media's weekend coverage isn't its strong point. Early on Friday morning, Officer Travis McClintock shot and killed Scott Gannon, who was armed with a knife. KLKN is reporting that Gannon was shot twice. The last fatal shooting by a police officer in Lincoln occurred in 1992.
I have been reading a lot of horror stories from around the country about police officers -- and, in some cases, entire departments -- behaving badly in situations like this. The officer used too much force, the department covered up or manipulated evidence, and so forth. Fortunately, there aren't really any indications at this point that Officer McClintock overstepped his boundaries. Likewise, I don't have any reason to doubt that we'll get the investigation this situation demands. Indeed, most of the conditions that tend to lead to the terrible things I've read about seem to be absent from LPD. Thank goodness for that.
Any time a police officer uses force in apprehending a subject, it's a matter of public concern. We have to have high standards for our officers, just as we have high standards for how the rest of us should behave when interacting with them. Relaxing those standards leads to, well, the Atlanta Police Department. Let's be sure to demand the full and open investigation of this shooting, and let's continue to insist that the use of force by police be rare and applied only when necessary. And let's hope that it's at least 16 more years before another LPD officer has to make the decision to use lethal force.
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Well put, sir.
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