A community in need of healing
People mourn deaths from gun violence far too frequently in America, but the shared sorrow often is more widespread when a police officer is slain in the line of duty.
Kansas City, Kan., is feeling that larger loss now over the shooting death Tuesday of Capt. Robert David Melton.
The 46-year-old Police Department veteran was shot to death by a fleeing suspect, whom police say they later apprehended.
Melton’s death is the second in the Police Department in less than three months. Detective Brad Lancaster, 39, was killed May 9. Authorities have charged a suspect in his death.
Mark Holland, mayor of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., was right to explain at a news conference that Melton’s death wasn’t part of the recent national tragedy of “ambush and murder of police who were actively protecting the public.”
Holland was referring to hate-filled gunmen this month killing and wounding police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La., after the earlier police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.
“We believe this case is another example of a known criminal trying to escape arrest,” Holland said. “Yet we all need to worry that the national climate may foster greater fear. This fear sometimes feels bigger than all of us. And yet, I believe Kansas City, Kan., will faithfully rise above this fear.”
To help in that healing, Sunday is being designated in Kansas City, Kan., as a community day of prayer for Melton’s family and the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, said the Rev. Jimmie Banks, pastor of Strangers Rest Baptist Church. It will be part of an ongoing public conversation to counter the nationwide rise of fear, suspicion and hate.
The community’s involvement in helping the police overcome the sorrow is important. That engagement with officers helps build needed trust and prevent more tragedies.
“We know you share our pain,” Police Chief Terry Zeigler said of his department.
The community-shared suffering and sense of commitment to making the city safer can help officers to feel more secure and welcomed in serving and protecting the residents of Kansas City, Kan.
Police officers often rush into dangerous situations to try to right wrongs, make arrests and restore peace in the community without thinking of their own safety. Every day they go to work they may have to put their lives on the line.
Zeigler appropriately said that officer training may need to be reviewed after the two slayings this year. That’s a wise step to ensure the safety of people on the force.
This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 3:00 PM.