We must support the police, discard myths

After decades of a declining crime rate, America now faces a law enforcement crisis. The well-documented “Ferguson effect” described by FBI Director James Comey has been followed by the Dallas and Baton Rouge massacres and other attacks directed at police officers. In Baltimore, a politically-inspired prosecution of six police officers has been exposed as baseless by a series of acquittals, but has poisoned police-community relations.

Hostility toward the police will continue until lies are replaced by truth. Michael Brown was not an innocent victim, but rather a thief who attacked a police officer. Blacks are not being disproportionately killed by the police, as was demonstrated by the recent Harvard study.

The database compiled by The Washington Post shows that most people who are killed by the police are armed and violent, and are more likely to be white than black.

Civilization requires law and order. The police make that possible. When accused, they should be presumed innocent while awaiting all the facts. If proven guilty they must be punished, but the media must stop treating then as guilty as soon as accused.

This story was originally published September 27, 2016 at 10:13 AM with the headline "We must support the police, discard myths."