Whipping up hysteria

We remember when Ottawa County Sheriff Steve Levorchick got it wrong and his office arrested a woman who reported a strange sexual encounter with a coworker. She made up a story about rape, according to the sheriff's office, and the woman was put on trial. She was acquitted, however, after the same man she accused in her complaint was later identified as the same man two other women accused previously. Levorchick briefly investigated one of those prior complaints, before he shut down the probe without ever having interviewed the alleged suspect. Now the sheriff — in full uniform and inside a sheriff's cruiser — is shilling for a U.S. Senate candidate, telling television audiences how worried he is about immigration at the Southern border. We wish he'd shown as much passion for women who've been sexually assaulted and file reports with local law enforcement agencies. Throughout the woman's trial, he never explained why, exactly, she was charged, and he never expressed any words of regret after she was exonerated. It's important that law enforcement officers — including sheriffs — believe women when they report sexual assault. It's important they listen to them and it's important that every effort be made to protect victims and seek justice on their behalf. Levorchick, it was clear, failed to do that on behalf of those three women, and we question his judgment wearing a uniform for a political ad that is an effort to stir up hysteria about immigration and immigrants. Immigrants in Springfield were invited to that community and politicians lied about them for votes. Levorchick, it seems, is working the same program.