Court must allow officers to do their job

The men and women of America's police forces put their lives on the line every day to protect us and ensure our safety. They deal with many incidents and many different people, and they make many judgment calls. Mistakes inevitably happen, as they do in every profession. The news media has shown us numerous incidents of alleged police brutality or misconduct. \n But that doesn't mean police officers should face civil suits when things go wrong.\nPolice are often forced to make judgment calls in a split second. Is that man carrying a gun or a wallet? A weapon or a candy bar? To an outside observer after the fact, the answers seem obvious. But to an officer who is trying to protect his or her own life and the lives of others, and who has only a moment to make a decision, nothing is as clear cut.\nNo group of professionals is perfect. Not every doctor or lawyer is right every time. The police are no exception to that rule. But all police departments have internal review boards to handle situations when officers make bad decisions, and some serious cases even make it to the criminal courts.\nPolice officers cannot make decisions with thoughts of civil suits hanging over their heads. Officers should not have to second-guess themselves when they must make quick choices. If the Supreme Court allows victims and their families to sue officers, our police men and women will hesitate -- unsure of whether to act -- in critical moments when lives are on the line. \nIt might save the lives of a few innocent people, and that is obviously a positive effect. But it would surely cost the lives of dozens of officers who hesitate at the wrong time, paralyzed by threats of lawsuits. For the men and women in whom our safety and security is entrusted, that would be an unfair and terrible tragedy.