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No second chance in this case

Obviously, a police officer fired for stabbing her boyfriend should not be reinstated to the force. But she will be in Cleveland, a judge has ordered.

Outrageous? Yes – but not as much so as the reason she won her lawsuit against the city.

An appeals court ruled last week that Shani Hannah, 40, should be reinstated to the Cleveland Police force, despite her 2012 guilty plea to an assault charge. According to a published report, she cut her boyfriend in “an alcohol-fueled incident …”

But she will get her job back because, according to the court, she was the victim of gender discrimination.

In at least five cases, male Cleveland police officers guilty of even worse domestic violence were allowed to keep their jobs, the court found.

A Cleveland official said the ruling was “disappointing.” Unacceptable is more like it.

No one guilty of assault should ever be permitted to serve as a law enforcement officer. Period. Hannah should not be reinstated.

But what about those male officers? What on earth were Cleveland officials thinking? Were they thinking?

If they do not already have such policies – and we suspect many do – law enforcement agencies in our area ought to have an ironclad, one-strike-and-you’re-out rule on assault involving officers or deputies, regardless of their gender.

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