Editorial: Frayed trust over police shootings needs fixing

The fatal shooting of Spokane Valley pastor and businessman Scott Creach prompted a flurry of letters to the editor. One, not printed in full for lack of required information, is quoted to illustrate a point.

“Cops just don’t like having guns pulled on them.”

Certainly not. But the writer meant it as a criticism – of the cops.

A few months ago in Seattle, a police officer finally punched a girl who had been obstructing his attempt to arrest her friend for jaywalking. Bystanders didn’t offer him assistance, but they captured plenty of video as they taunted him.

Rapidly fading, it seems, is the average citizen’s belief in law enforcement officers as agents of civic order.

Nearly a year ago, Washington state was outraged by a series of ambushes in which police officers and sheriff’s deputies were the targets. Between Halloween and Christmas 2009, five uniformed officers in Washington were killed and two more wounded.

The toll might have been higher. In Spokane, during that period, a car-theft suspect took a shot at a Spokane police officer.

What a reversal of late. Seven officer-involved fatalities occurred in a two-week span across the state. And Creach’s case isn’t the only one in which the officer’s conduct is getting substantial scrutiny, preceded rather than followed by loud criticism.

The violent taking of human life is the immediate concern, but the themes now playing out in both the public’s and law enforcement’s attitudes are weakening the trust that is a foundational element of a nation of laws. This is not unique to Spokane, nor to Washington state.

For several days last week in Los Angeles, public protests raged over the fatal shooting by police of a laborer said to have been threatening passers-by with a knife. In Appleton, Wis., on Wednesday, police shot and killed a man who reportedly attacked them with swords. It was the third officer-involved shooting death in that region in two weeks.

Experience has taught us a lesson that keeps needing to be repeated: Circumstances vary, and outcomes have to be judged individually.

Sometimes, but not always, police and sheriff’s deputies behave badly, and the consequences of misconduct fall heavily on the stand-up cops who honor their profession and live up to its ideals. And sometimes, but not always, cops resort to extreme measures only because bad guys left them no choice.

Authorities could help rebuild trust by being more forthcoming with information. (Federal Way police waited more than a week before revealing the name of the officer in one incident. Appleton, Wis., police released the name hours after the shooting.)

For their part, citizens need to suspend preconceived ideas and reach conclusions based on facts.

Moreover, they need to understand that if cops “just don’t like having guns pulled on them,” there’s a legitimate, public-interest reason.