Re-read my letter. If you take the time you will notice I did say they were guilty of his death. By forcing the situation, a death occurred that may not have. But that does not mean the suicidal man did not act as the officers described, only that they acted improperly and forced the situation into only two possible outcomes. But the guilt may not be their's as individuals.
People tend to act as they have been taught.
If their department teaches them the methods they used that resulted in the shooting, then coming down on the officers misses the point and allows the department a convenient scapegoat, and real change will not occur. In case it was not obvious, the original missive had a guess of my own. That guess was not to justify the action of the police, but to demonstrate that alternative guesses are easily made, showing the irrelevance of guessing. A newsgroup on police-public relations or police culture or police in general would be more appropriate. If anyone wishes to take me to task on this, my email address is below.