The Selma Police Department and the Fourth Judicial district attorney should be applauded for the latest cleaning up in the city’s police department.

On Tuesday, chief of police William Riley and district attorney Michael Jackson announced the arrest of a Selma Police officer Chris Harris on a charge of rape, second degree.

Riley made clear the police department conducted an internal investigation after the complaint was alleged, and then turned the matter over to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation for its probe.

The result: an arrest and a police officer suspected of criminal behavior is off the streets.

Harris is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Riley and Jackson also are aware of this. The police department, said Riley, is moving deliberately and cautiously through the process to relieve Harris of his duties as a police officer. Jackson said he would present the case to a grand jury late this month. A grand jury will decide if there is enough evidence to issue a formal bill of indictment, which starts the criminal proceedings in circuit court.

It is surprising and disappointing that the actions of an individual with a badge and a gun would lead to this sort of investigation that results in charges.

It is reassuring — or at least should be to the public — the police department and the district attorney’s office would take immediate action to see justice is done in this particular case just as it is when a citizen is accused of wrongdoing.