LETTER: Police shootings story missed the mark

The Feb. 2 Review-Journal article noting that it’s “very rare” for Las Vegas police to be prosecuted for a death missed the mark on several points.

First, the piece promotes the twisted narrative that the proper metric for evaluating the integrity of our police and prosecutors is how many police officers are sent to prison. This is backward. We should be celebrating the fact that so few Metro officers are found by juries to have exceeded their legal authorities with the use of deadly force. This state of affairs is likely a testament to the 2011 Department of Justice review, today’s increased and very realistic use of force training, tightened policy guidelines and the extraordinary accountability provided by body-worn cameras.

Second, and quite tellingly, most of the cases mentioned are from the 1990s — the days of nightsticks and handheld brick radios — before many of today’s officers were even born. The story engages in race baiting when referring to the Charles Bush death. Were the officers charged with a racial crime? Apparently not. A jury ruled Mr. Bush’s death “justifiable.” Are we to replace juries with something else?

The case of Metro officer Alexander Bookman and the death of Brandon Durham is current, of course, but that one is still being looked at.

One “expert” cited puts forward the idea that police officers should be treated like any other citizen. Yet the article fails to point out the obvious fact that officers are indeed subject to indictment by grand juries, prosecution by prosecutors (state or federal or both) and judged by juries … just like everyone else.

The authors save their sharpest blow to any modicum of objectivity by closing with an inflammatory quote, “They’ll cover it all up. They always do.” Where’s the evidence of coverups? None is presented.

This article was an editorial and should have been marked as such.