We had one of those awful encounters this morning that began with a man threatening suicide and ended with police shooting and killing him. In the coming days, there is sure to be much discussion about what the police did and what they could/should have done. That is proper. Police are supposed to protect us, and they have enormous power over us, so their actions warrant as much scrutiny as we can muster. But we ought not be in too big a hurry to second-guess them. My own inclination is to give them the benefit of the doubt until and unless the evidence dictates otherwise. Given the circumstances we know of the case (the man called police and told them what he planned to do, then turned the gun from himself toward them), we also can't discount this possibility, a growing problem with implications in a lot of areas of public concern. Of course, even if this does turn out to be the case, that doesn't let police completely off the hook. Incidents involving mental illness are among the trickiest for police to deal with, requiring patience, sensitivity and not a little training.
