For The Journal

The Mancos Public Library has scheduled an advance screening of “Peace Officer,” a film by Scott Christopherson and Brad Barber, at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 21. A community discussion with local police officers will follow the screening.

Winner of both the Grand Jury and Audience Awards for Best Documentary at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival, “Peace Officer” is the story of William “Dub” Lawrence, a former sheriff who established and trained Utah’s first SWAT team – only to watch in horror as that same unit killed his son-in-law Brian Wood in a controversial standoff years later.

Lawrence finds that recent officer-involved shootings and SWAT team raids in quiet neighborhoods just miles from where his son-in-law was killed involved aggressive no-knock search warrant laws. These events are contextualized within the growing problem of violent SWAT raids and governmental immunity laws established as part of the War on Drugs.

“Peace Officer” follows Dub as he picks apart these cases with the zeal of a rule-of-law detective combined with the grief of a victim.