All should condemn shameful cowards who ambush police
Published September 1, 2015
Editorial by Winston-Salem Journal, August 31, 2015.
Our nation is in a hard and terrible place these days. Gun violence continues to strike down far too many people, whether in mass shootings, single shootings or questionable shootings by police. It’s all wrong. And the wounding and killing of police officers is among the worst of it.
The latest incident of an officer being ambushed came Friday night outside Houston, where The Associated Press reports that Shannon J. Miles, who has a criminal history including convictions for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct with a firearm, faces charges that he fatally shot Darren Goforth, a husband, father and 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, multiple times in the back. Goforth, who apparently didn’t even know Miles, had been gassing up his car at a service station.
Brian McCullar told the AP that he knew Goforth, 47, who had patrolled his neighborhood. “He was passionate about what he did,” McCullar said. “It’s a huge loss for this area. You’re talking about a guy that made a difference.”
Goforth was white and the defendant is black, stoking the racial tensions surrounding law enforcement flaring throughout the land. There should be widespread condemnation of the ambush killing of this officer and others. There are abuses in law enforcement against blacks. But to state the obvious — and, sadly, the obvious has to be stated — ambush killings of officers cannot be tolerated.
As Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said: “There are a few bad apples in every profession. That does not mean there should be open warfare declared on law enforcement.”
These officers work for modest pay, sacrificing long hours away from their families and putting their lives on the line. We’re concerned that these ambush shootings will compel veteran officers to pursue more lucrative careers in private security, and that our best and brightest candidates will head straight to that field.
We need dialogue on police issues. What we don’t need are bullets rained on the officers of all colors who hold the line in dangerous neighborhoods — ones black, white and brown — to keep us all safe. We stand behind these officers. And we encourage you to do so as well.
Prosecutors and judges come down hard, as well they should, against those who fire on the thin blue line. But more of us need to play our part as well. We need to say loud and clear that we condemn violence against law-enforcement officers just as much as we condemn unjust police violence against civilians.
After the coward ambushed the lawman, Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman expressed pride in his officers, saying, “Our deputies return to the streets tonight to hold a delicate peace that was shattered last evening.”
We owe it to ourselves and the thin blue line to help uphold that delicate peace by speaking out against gunfire rained on our officers.
