Officers deserve support, even after honest mistakes

Many have dangerous jobs, and we're wise not to take our loved ones for granted when they head off to work.

Even so, it's shocking and outrageous to hear that five police officers lost their lives Thursday night as they were working to protect the rights and lives of peaceful protesters only a few blocks from where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

Three suspects are in custody and another is dead, but there's uncertainty whether they were the only ones involved in the sniper killings that were the worst single day for American law enforcement since the September 11, 2001 attacks that left 71 officers dead when the Twin Towers collapsed.

While many police departments have adopted body cams to record officers' actions, it was civilian video that touched off protests related to police killings of two black men.

A Minnesota officer on Wednesday fatally shot Philando Castile while he was in a car with a woman and a child, the shooting's aftermath livestreamed in a widely shared Facebook video.

A day earlier, Alton Sterling was shot in Louisiana after being pinned to the pavement by two white officers. That, too, was captured on a cellphone video.

The wide availability of video equipment has added a new dimension to law enforcement, starting with the Rodney King riots in California to the latest Facebook smartphone postings.

Even those videos are open to interpretation, however, and we as untrained civilians are not necessarily qualified to pass judgment on the officers' actions.

What we can be sure of, however, is that we must support officers as they attempt to keep our society safe, even if they do occasionally make mistakes.