In general, are public apologies enough to assuage the anger of the injured party — and the public?
Public apologies are very good. They do not necessarily represent all that needs to be done, but they are an important part of it. (Discipline, for example, might be warranted in some cases.) This is also a new development. There was a serious shooting incident involving the L.A. Sheriff’s Department a few years ago, and the officers made a public apology through their attorney. (They did not admit they had done anything wrong but did apologize for the impact on the community.) Many people view this type of apology as disingenuous — I’m sorry not for what I did but for how it made you feel; why do you think it’s helpful? It is easy to understand why people would see them as disingenuous. I choose to look at them as another step forward to a fuller form of accountability. They will acquire greater meaning when coupled with other actions: meaningful discipline, where warranted; the steady development of better policies, etc. Are police officers more or less accountable than they were a g
