Killings of police rip at fabric of society

Kentucky state trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder was performing an act of kindness when the driver of a car he had stopped embarked on a reckless flight.

The driver, 25-year-old Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks of Florissant, Mo., had a suspended license. Two women and two children were in the car with him. Ponder was trying to find them a hotel room Sunday night when Johnson-Shanks took off.

Ponder, a 31-year-old rookie trooper, gave chase. Johnson-Shanks abruptly stopped to force Ponder’s cruiser to rear-end his vehicle. He then leaned out of the driver’s side window and opened fire at Ponder’s hood and windshield, fatally wounding the officer. Johnson-Shanks, who had a history of run-ins with law enforcement, was later shot and killed by other state troopers.

The cold-blooded murder of a dedicated law enforcement officer is chilling, and it is unfortunately one of several in the last couple of months. Since Memorial Day, officers have been shot and killed in Texas, Louisiana, California and New Mexico. At least four of the deaths occurred during traffic stops.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reports that 28 police officers have been fatally shot while on duty this year, a number that is actually 22 percent lower than what was recorded over the same period in 2014.

But the murder of a law enforcement officer always rips at the fabric of society, and these are fraught times. Shootings of civilians by police officers have sparked widespread protests, and many cops feel alienated from the citizens they serve. The fact that too many people are carrying firearms ratchets up anxiety on both sides.

Remedies are complex, having to do with police techniques and training and better ways of identifying violent individuals and getting them off the streets. In the meantime, a mutual show of respect by citizens and law enforcement officers will help.

Police need to know their work is appreciated. And citizens need to see cops engaged in positive interactions with the public. Acts of decency won’t stop the worst of the bad actors, but they should help defuse some of the tensions.

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Killings of police rip at fabric of society."