The police video from the shooting of 73-year-old Ananias Shaw may have answered questions for some. It’s had the opposite effect for others — raising more questions about what happended. However, the decision to release the footage was the right one.

The community has demanded the footage through weekly protest, and Shaw’s brother expressed his frustration with the family being denied access to it long after the incident.

The tape was release more than a year after a Selma police officer shot the hatchet-wielding man, but we appreciate the Selma Police Department’s decision to make the video available to the public.

Even the Shaw family wanted the entire city to have access to the tape from the beginning, so it wasn’t only right that we share the details of the videoin our print edition of our newspaper, but also provide the link to the full video on our website.

We applaud the Selma Police Department for their transparency, because it’s vital to keeping the public’s trust.