Inside Opinion » police shootings http://blog.thenewstribune.com/opinion What's on the minds of Tacoma News Tribune editorial writers Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:45:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Badge, gun, accountability http://blog.thenewstribune.com/opinion/2010/04/06/badge-gun-accountability/ http://blog.thenewstribune.com/opinion/2010/04/06/badge-gun-accountability/#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 02:36:37 +0000 Patrick O'Callahan http://blog.thenewstribune.com/opinion/?p=9130 This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

It doesn’t happen often, but police are sometimes too quick to pull the trigger. Every use of lethal force demands hard scrutiny.

The scrutiny usually brings reassurance, as it has with the spike of suspect-shootings since five officers were gunned down in Pierce County late last year.

Candidates for law enforcement go through serious psychological screening and extensive training before they are entrusted with a badge and gun, which is a very good thing. Were commissioned officers as jittery and vindictive as many civilians, the body count would likely have been considerably …

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