OPINION:
On Jan. 21, former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales walked out of a courtroom a free man. A jury acquitted him of 29 felony charges stemming from his inaction during the May 24, 2022, massacre at Robb Elementary School — an atrocity that left 19 children and two teachers dead while officers waited 77 minutes to confront the shooter.
The verdict answered only the narrow legal question before the jury. But it did nothing to resolve the deeper moral one: What do we promise when we take the oath to serve and protect?
American courts have long held that police officers have no constitutional duty to protect individual citizens. Mr. Gonzales’ acquittal rests on that legal foundation. But law enforcement has never been merely a legal profession. It is a moral one. Officers volunteer to stand between the innocent and those who would harm them. They accept the responsibility to run toward danger when others run away.
That responsibility requires what I call courageous optimism — the belief that action matters, paired with the moral will, moral skill and courage to act despite fear. Its opposite, pessimistic cowardice, emerges when fear overwhelms judgment and paralyzes action.
On May 24, 2022, Mr. Gonzales had a firearm, training, body armor and backup. What he lacked was the moral will and courage to act. Fear became his master. Instead of trusting his training and honoring his oath, he surrendered to catastrophic thinking. For 77 minutes, children were murdered while he stood in a hallway.
Active shooter doctrine is unambiguous: Stop the killing, stop the dying. Immediate action saves lives. Delay costs them.
The badge carries expectations that far exceed legal mandates. Communities grant officers extraordinary authority because they trust that, when evil emerges, those wearing the badge will confront it.
The jury found Mr. Gonzales not guilty under the law. But the profession must render its own verdict: He failed the moral test of the badge. The law may have acquitted him, but the badge never will.
DAVID BEREZ
Adviser, Citizens Behind the Badge
Hopewell, New Jersey
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