Cops endure public's fire

From the safety of your living room sofa or peering protected behind your desktop computer at work, it's pretty easy to convict "overzealous" cops.

It's also not always fair.

Law enforcers were derided as a bunch of Barney Fifes when their suspect survived a fusillade of bullets in a Post Falls shootout early last Sunday morning. As one result of 14 officers being placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting, versions of a new joke popped up.

Question: How does a cop earn months of paid vacation when he doesn't have any vacation time left?

Answer: Just shoot at somebody.

They were called knuckle-draggin' Neanderthals and worse after a dramatic, recorded encounter between two sheriff's deputies and a couple of young men who were suspected of dealing marijuana. At a Coeur d'Alene gas station, the young men argue they said "Nickelback;" the deputies say they heard "nickel sack." Before cool heads prevailed, a deputy had allegedly drawn his gun and one suspect had been handcuffed.

A razor-thin line separates tension and tragedy.

In September 2012, multiple officers fired an estimated 77 rounds at a 19-year-old who had led them on a chase in Coeur d'Alene after shooting a city resident in the chest. The officers were cleared in two separate investigations.

Last June 12, two North Idaho officers shot and killed a man near the Idaho-Montana border in what was later determined to be a justified use of deadly force.

Last Aug. 25, a 35-year-old Dalton Gardens man was shot and killed by a Coeur d'Alene police officer in what was determined to be a justifiable shooting.

In February, a chase involving a suicidal Purple Heart recipient started in Coeur d'Alene and ended in Spokane Valley, where Washington authorities shot and killed the armed man.

On the night of June 6, three Coeur d'Alene police officers shot and killed a 28-year-old man. That shooting is still under investigation.

Then came Sunday's early morning shootout which, unlike these others, ended without a fatality.

What most citizens don't know about police work far exceeds what they do know. With all that power and authority comes a high degree of danger. Law enforcers/peace officers wear a badge on their shirt and a target on their back.

Some sick people seek "suicide by cop" and they're willing to take others down with them. Some people with a militia mentality see peace officers as enemies who deserve to die. Circumstances that appear innocent enough can turn wicked in a split second. And some that look sinister are simply a stroll in the park.

Until you walk up to a home where there's a reported domestic disturbance going on, or pull over somebody who's wanted for a prior offense, you cannot possibly feel what these men and women feel on a regular basis. Maybe you should be grateful for that.