LESSONS LEARNED AT BINGHAMTON

The horrific gun related violence that snuffed out the lives of numerous upstate New Yorkers at Binghamton early this April 2009 brings with it a few lessons.

Well, one, not all acts of mindless bloodshed come to our soil and impact our hamlets from overseas from those justly demonized but so far successful in eluding capture despite billions of dollars in expenditures. Some perpetrators of mindless bloodshed come from right in our proverbial backyards, as was the case of the alleged Binghamton perpetrator who was reported to have been known to many.

However, the second lesson I learned quickly after hearing about the events in Binghamton was that the outpouring of support for the victims and their families was profoundly human and compassionate, and the rapid deployment and effective joint operations between Binghamton PD, the NYSP, and other law enforcement agencies both local, state and federal, was a lesson in efficiency and professionalism. For what descended upon them in early April in a maelstrom of perverted violence, the residents of Binghamton have justified reason to be sad and to mourn.

They also have justified reason to be proud of those who swore to serve and protect them, and did so with sheer professionalism, compassion, competence, and skill on a cold April day in upstate New York. That's the positive lesson I choose to take from recent events in Broome County, New York.