University Police officers are faced with a daunting task.
They can't do their jobs effectively without the trust of thestudents they are charged with protecting, and yet, following theshooting death of Michael McKinney on Nov. 8, that trust is harderto come by.
It will take some time for UPD to prove to students that theyare still worthy guardians of that trust. Building confidence isn'tlike building a house -- it's much harder than putting a hammer toa nail.
As Police Chief Gene Burton said, "Trust is something that'searned. It's not granted."
Many students believe Officer Robert Duplain acted like Rambo.If UPD wants to combat that belief, it will have to be open andhonest about the events that unfolded that night.
UPD is going to have to share all the facts, and there will bedifficult, ugly facts. A student is dead.
There's plenty of fault to go around, but because the stateholds a monopoly on violence, it's held to a higher standard. UPDwill have to work harder than other participants in the event tojustify its actions.
If mistakes were made, they need to be simply and completelyconfessed. If not, UPD needs to convincingly defend Duplain'sactions.
Obviously the ongoing investigation into the incident placessome limits on what UPD is allowed to say. Nevertheless, theorganization needs to share as much as it can as soon as itcan.
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