Questions police action in Sandpoint

July 14, 2014

To the Editor: One woman? A knife? Several Policemen on the scene? Where was their pepper spray, or those electronic devices they carry that stop people in their tracks? Where were their armored vests that stop bullets......and most certainly knives wielded by a person of the weaker sex? With the limited amount of information given out to the public, it would appear that Sandpoint Police officers have the same mind set as what we see and hear on the evening news about the "cowboys" working in Spokane: use deadly force first, and let the chips fall where they may. My uncle was a police officer who retired with never having to pull his gun from his holster. Now police officers shoot and kill a woman who threaten them with a knife? The Fish and Game people tell us to carry pepper spray while hiking to protect us if we are in grizzly bear country. If I were threatened and had a gun on me and killed one, I'd be in a world of trouble. But Sandpoint's finest get to use their guns first, and shoot to kill a woman with a knife? How are these officers trained? What is their mind set? Should we all be in fear of our lives if we have any contact with them? Sandpoint isn't Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, or some other big city with millions of people and as many problems. I need to be convinced that deadly force was necessary to stop this woman, at a hospital, in a small town, in rural Idaho, and armed with a close contact weapon, a knife. Until I am, shame on them.... Tom Griffin