SOME CALM AND COMMON SENSE

Two Troy Police Officers were shot. The shooter was killed by the police. One hundred percent of the objective evidence establishes that the killing was justified. If something comes out that contradicts that, so be it. We wouldn't hold our breath, though. Lets face it, the Troy Police Department isn't perfect. No force is perfect. However, compared to other local departments, they have been able to avoid major scandals and do not have a reputation for racial bias, unless one believes shooting an African-American who is shooting at them is racially biased.

The outpouring of support for the two officers, and the police, has been overwhelming. As well it should. This might remind a few people who bitch and moan about overtime or contracts that policing is a dangerous job.

On the other hand, a handful of people, have raised questions about the shooting. Their questions are not based on any facts or evidence, but are more like knee-jerk reactions. Family and friends of the dead man are angry and sad. That's understandable. They weren't present and they did not do anything wrong. It's natural to morn for a friend or family member. It's useless to criticize them for doing so. Human nature is human nature.

Events like this have a way of getting out of hand. The spark could be anything, even some tiny event that normally would be beneath notice. We need cool, calm leaders and we need to let the anti-police voices (no matter how unjustified) vent for a while, and not engage in a petty back-and-forth.

Someone sent us a link to Ben Brucato's Twitter page. We don't know Mr. Brucato. We wouldn't invite him over for cocktails. He has a right to voice his opinion and we have a right to disagree. But why engage with him and the few like him? Why Tweet and re-tweet this nonsense? Why give him more attention? A human being is dead. Two police officers could very easily have been killed. Some reduce all of this to tweets? Is that what we've come to.

Based on Mr. Brucato's tweets* we don't expect much in the way of rational thought. We do expect more from a former Mayor.

This is what the former Mayor of Troy is reduced to? What about you Harry? Will you be holding a rally to oppose violence against our Troy Police Officers? How will you address this matter? Is the extent of his support a tweet? And yes, he has a few more in there that are petty, silly and do nothing more than call attention to a few jackasses.

And who can forget Harry's war on the Troy Police, whether it was the O'Neil - Centanni fiasco (remember how that turned out?), the Fitzgerald cluster$&*k (how much did that cost us?), and Harry trying to take credit for John Comitale's good police work. There are other stories as well. Harry may talk a good game but his actions, when it counted, speak louder.

You may say, 'Harry hasn't been mayor for four years.' And you'd be right. But as long as he pokes his head up and comments on these things, we'll bitch-slap him. For old time sake.

* Yes, we're guilty of re-posting a few. We're never above hypocrisy.