As distasteful as it is to second-guess the actions of a fellow officer, especially one whose mistakes have cost him so much, it is even more distasteful to see an officer's blood shed in vain, to deny others the lessons to be learned from his tragic misfortune. Officer deaths and injuries are rarely unavoidable. Some errors are more obvious than others, but usually something could have been done to prevent the dire outcome. The purpose of this column is not to unnecessarily criticize those who have given so much-we have all made similar, if not worse, mistakes-it is to hopefully prevent similar tragedies in the future. This regular feature will analyze actual incidents in which officers have been killed or wounded, and will focus on what can be learned from them. With this in mind, "Officer Down" is dedicated to the officers whose blood was shed in the course of the incident it analyzes, and to all our brother officers who have been killed and injured in unselfish service to their communities.
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