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A long and storied career in law enforcement is coming to an end.
Lycoming County Sheriff Mark Lusk is rot seeking reelection as the county's sheriff, opting to retire. He recently sat down with Sun-Gazette staff to discuss the highlights of career in law enforcement, which included stretches of time as chief of police for Old Lycoming Township and, before that, as a detective.
"I took great pride as a police detective," he told the Sun-Gazette, detailing how he became nationally certified in courts as an expert witness and a certification in child abuse and child sexual abuse.
"I put a number of perpetrators in state prison for victimizing our children," he said, elaborating on his commitment to helping to promote safety with youths and devised programs where "kids feel safe and interact with law enforcement, so they are not afraid to come forward."
We believe every member of our communities should be thankful for Lusk's half-century of efforts at keeping our streets -- and our children -- safe.
We recognize -- and our saddened by -- the newest trends in the age of the internet and social media to disparage the hard work of police. While we recognize that, like all professions, oversight is a necessary component, it still truly is unfortunate to see malcontents with vendettas smear good police officers. As journalists, it is even more unfortunate to see these vendettas and conspiracy theories often attempt to masquerade as "unbiased journalism."
We continue to hope men and women in our communities retain the discernment to recognize the petulance and vendettas for what they are, and more importantly, the gratitude to be thankful for the public service of Sheriff Lusk and of other police officers in our municipal and state police forces who work hard to keep our communities and families safer.