One year ago Thursday a Selma police officer shot and killed hatchet-wielding 74-year-old Ananias Shaw. In July, a grand jury ruled the officer acted properly in the threatening situation, but tape of the incident has yet to be made public.

The department has refused to release video from the officer’s lapel camera. Selma Police Chief William Riley said this week the department will not release the video due to possible future litigation.

We believe transparency and the public’s right to know what happened should triumph in this case.

If there was no wrong done — and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and a Dallas County Grand Jury both ruled there wasn’t — then why not release the tape to anyone who has concerns?

In a volatile time in our nation, where the relationship between police officers and citizens seems to be under additional scrutiny every day, transparency is the key to earning and keeping the public’s trust.

In late August, Shaw’s family asked to see the shooting footage. The family was told that as long as certain protocols were followed they could see the tape.

That meeting is yet to happen, but our hope is that in the near future it can be worked out where the family can watch the tape.

It’s impossible to try to imagine what the past year has been like for Shaw’s family or the officer, but at least the release of the video might be able to answer lingering questions and provide some measure of closure for both.

The Selma Police Department should be commended for the work they do patrolling our streets.

The department has already taken steps to try to avoid a situation like this one in the future.

One week after the shooting, the Selma City Council voted to add 27 stun guns to the department’s arsenal and 26 more were ordered in September. Non-lethal options like stun guns and rubber bullets are always preferable over lethal ones when the use of deadly force is avoidable.

The department is also ahead of many in the nation with its use of body cameras. Officers have been wearing video microphones for almost four years now, thanks to a grant that helped the department purchase the equipment.

The cameras have been invaluable as a training tool and have helped in many prosecutions, and, as the Shaw case proves, can be used to justify the actions of officers.

It’s just hard for the public to make up their own minds when they can’t see the video.