We have a lot of good, honest, hard-working men and women serving our region’s communities as police officers.

Headlines from across the nation frequently remind us of the challenges bad cops pose to communities — and to good cops. And it is clear that reforms are needed.

But the reforms need to be deliberated judiciously and comprehensively. It should not — really, cannot — be something states and communities rush into without due consideration of all the potential consequences. The process of improving police practices needs to be measured and rational, not driven by emotions, no matter how heart-wrenching and painful the emotions dredged by the headlines from across the nation are.

And, as the hard work and willingness to engage communities many of our region’s police officers repeatedly demonstrate shows, the police themselves must be part of the conversation on how best to address the excesses and inadequacies we see in these national headlines.

We all want our police to be better equipped with the diverse resources necessary to balance the onerous demands of their increasingly difficult work. We believe hasty decisions on extreme policy prescriptions, rooted in emotional reactions, are contrary to that goal. And we trust that good police officers can lead on a better approach to resolving the questions of reform.