Good cop, bad cop? Hearing reminds us it’s more complicated than that

Some complain of a war on cops. But actually the nation is in the midst of a struggle to ensure that the police work for us, for our safety, for our liberty and for democracy, rather than against all those things.

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Editorials

June 16, 2022 - 4:13 PM

U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, left, testifies alongside British filmmaker Nick Quested during a House Select Committee hearing to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, June 9. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think that, as a police officer … I would find myself in the middle of a battle,” Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards said Thursday at the first public hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. “I’m trained to detain a couple of subjects … but I’m not combat-trained. And that day, it was just hours of hand-to-hand combat.”

The hearings continue this week, but Edwards’ testimony still resonates. Her words, together with video previously unseen by the public, drive home the…

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