The SWAT team of Pine Bluff obtained medals for "valor" for killing a 107-year-old man who refused to be removed from his house.

When the City Council found out about them, it voted to cancel the medals, but the thugs refuse to give them up. I think Councilwoman Thelma Walker put it just right -- how could they be pround of such a medal?

I wonder if perhaps they get some sort of benefit for those medals, either more pay, or perhaps a contest of admiration with other thugs.

What Pine Bluff really should do is investigate whether it really needs a SWAT team. In how many events per year is it used -- and how many events per year properly call for using it? Perhaps they are so few that it would be cheaper to bring a SWAT team from another city. It might be safer, too: they'd use a SWAT team only when it is necessary, and that might save other people's lives.