Why officers should attend funerals for people killed by police

David Couper, a veteran police chief from Madison and Burnsville, joined MPR News' Kerri Miller to talk about attending the memorial service for Tony Robinson, a 19-year-old black man shot and killed by a Madison police officer. This was his first funeral for a citizen killed by police.

From his blog:

At the service, I began to have the scales peeled off my eyes as to the emotional impact of a police shooting, I was surrounded and overwhelmed by the pain and agony of the family and younger and older members of the community -- both white and black. My years out of uniform had given me a new perspective -- and an aching heart.

My sense is that we all grieve together, the family, the community, elected officials, and the police. No one cannot be untouched by this event. It is what many of us have feared for years.