In Thursday's MJS, is another article for Sunshine Week. This article centers around Milwaukee Police Officer Steven J. Lelinski. It appears that there were 27 complaints against Officer Lelinski in his 16 years of service.

Should citizen complaints be public record? In this case I think they should. We are dealing with not just a public servant, but someone who has been entrusted with the public safety and protection. From our youth, we are taught that police officers are people we should trust. We all learn eventually that not all officers can be trusted. Lelinski is one such officer.

Would the release of such records been able to prevent the more recent incidents? Perhaps. We will never know for sure. The availability of those records to journalists and regular citizens alone would not have done much to prevent the unfortunate events that took place. Prevention could only have occurred if someone was watching and taking action on the complaints. Being able to see the complaints now is all well and good, but why were the complaints not taken seriously enough to have this officer investigated, removed from duty and perhaps convicted before the most recent events?