Police walk fine line and need support

Earlier this year, a fatal shooting took place in a local North suburban hospital emergency room, in which a crash victim pulled a gun on Illinois State Troopers.

A man pulled a gun from his waistband and refused officers' requests to put it down. The man was shot and killed by police, and subsequently the mother of the victim insisted that he would still be alive if he had been patted down at the crash site.

Law enforcement officers walk a very fine line between effectively protecting the public from criminal harm and protecting the civil rights of citizens. According to law, an officer can only instigate a pat-down when he or she feels that a threat is present. In this case, the victim was not frisked because the officers involved did not feel there was a threat.

There are so many instances lately where the police are looked upon as a the problem. In this instance, had the individual not been carrying a concealed, illegal firearm and brandished it with intent to use deadly force, he would probably be alive today. Blaming the police for his demise is like blaming a fast-food chain for one's weight problem (but infinitely more dire).

The police are our last line of defense before chaos, confusion and lawlessness. I repeat the universal question: "Can't we all just get along?"

Michael Lindblad

Palatine