Use Discretion

You don’t need to hear it from us, but: Times are tense. It’s a moment when, in our local communities, we need to be more careful to avoid knee-jerk reactions, and while vigilance is a virtue, don’t assume everything you see on social media is what it appears to be.

At the same time, communication is going to be key. An incident last week demonstrated that all of us — including local police agencies — need to be aware of the unique moment, and take steps to make sure people are not frightened needlessly.

A photo circulated last week that showed police officers in Sag Harbor, in full gear, seeking entry to a building. This is a scene that provokes alarm, interest and curiosity — or worse, when there are members of our community who fear an unexpected traffic stop or knock on the door, and it turns out to be federal agents.

In this case, it was actually local police, fully identified as such. It was a drill, nothing more.

And those things probably happen often, without raising alarm, in normal times. These are not normal times. Sag Harbor officials were terrific in getting word out quickly that it was a planned exercise and nothing more. It might be, however, that these days require a little more discretion, and maybe some advance warning, to at least try to keep in check the stress the scene might cause to someone who stumbles upon it.

But the rest of us need to remember, too, that every traffic stop isn’t necessarily a federal case — literally — and while “bearing witness” is an important role for the general public at a time like this, that doesn’t excuse irresponsibly jumping to conclusions or frightening people needlessly.

On a mostly unrelated note, also involving uniformed officers: It was nice that a local citizen worked with Sag Harbor Village to give the teenage traffic control officers working this summer a free dinner and a movie to thank them for their service — and, in some way, to try to make up for the nastiness they face on a daily basis from some motorists.

Sag Harbor isn’t the only village to use TCOs, and it’s all too common to hear stories of people getting unreasonably angry when they cross paths with a uniformed officer, regardless of their age, doing his or her job.

They deserve thanks for a thankless job — but, more than that, they deserve some respect and common decency. Don’t be that person everyone talks about later, over dinner and a movie, as a cautionary tale.