William J. "Dub" Lawrence says "I was elected county sheriff of Davis County in 1974. On the 22nd of September, 2008, the very SWAT team that I founded in the 1970s killed my son-in-law, in my presence, as I defended them to his father, and his mother, and my children, promising them that these men were trained and professional and knew what they were doing."
A new documentary film, "Peace Officer," which premieres on "Independent Lens" on PBS on Monday, is about the increasingly militarized state of American police as told through the story of Dub Lawrence, who established and trained Utah's first SWAT team only to see that same unit kill his son-in-law in a standoff 30 years later. Driven by a sense of mission, Lawrence investigates this and other recent officer-involved shootings in his community while tackling larger questions about the changing face of peace officers nationwide.
We'll talk with Dub Lawrence and filmmakers Scott Christopherson and Brad Barber and hear clips from the film.
