Kroger shooting: Suspect coming out of store fires at officers before they shoot him dead

This comment is spot-on!

I'm retired, but I was hired on LPD (which I believe was a top-notch department), and even though we ragged on each other, there were plenty of great officers over at JCPD also.

I think the writing was on the wall at merger time when an outsider (White) was hired to lead LMPD. (Not that his resume' wasn't impressive...but that's for another rant). At that time, at least, there were plenty of qualified internal personnel from either department that could've done a fine job.

That being said, and history being what it is, I really NEVER thought I'd see the day when LMPD wouldn't even be a worthy shadow of either of the two predecessor departments. The sad thing is, those of you who weren't around pre-merger (which is to say the vast majority of you) really don't have any idea what it was like to actually be able to police in this city (county).

Every day that goes by, with this command and this mayor allowing the continued degradation of this department (and city) is only going to make it that much harder to turn LMPD around and make it a decent department again.

There's a place and time for all the feel-good, hands-off approach to policing, but there is also a real need to simply get back to basics, and ENFORCE the laws of the Commonwealth without everyone having to be so afraid of being hung out to dry by simply doing so.

That's my $0.02...stay safe everybody!