It’s a sad time in America when police officers deliberately defraud the Red Cross. But we already know yet sometimes forget that law enforcement officers, celebrities, politicians, and other role models are people too. And of course, when bad things are done by those society deems to be “good” people, it may be surprising at first and we sometimes lose our trust in them.

According to press reports, Tracie Denise Bell and Kirshondra Richardson, Houston police officers, received $160,000 to run a basketball camp for what they allegedly claimed were 310 Katrina evacuees. Problem is, they somehow added more days than the camp actually operated in and 300 more than the 10 kids that in reality took part in the camp.

Numerous cases of fraud against FEMA or the Red Cross have surfaced in the past two and a half years, with some publicly known cases appearing to be people who were not victims of hurricane Katrina at all. While surely some hurricane survivors have cheated the system in one way or another, the vast majority of survivors were deserving of any assistance they received.

In the case of these two police officers, they are women who took advantage of their public duties to get funds provided by a charitable organization. What they did with the money remains to be seen, but each face up to a possible 20 years in prison if convicted of the theft charges.

Americans seem to remember atrocities or bad things, but sometimes tend to not remember the good. We know there were dishonest Katrina evacuees, and others who caused problems in the benevolent cities that welcomed them in the beginning. But does America also know that many thousands of evauees were honest, hard-working tax-paying citizens? That many at least had paychecks in their pockets or in the bank when Katrina hit? Does America know that a majority of evacuees are also offended by unwelcome or rude troublemaking evacuees in cities that took them in?

Are most Americans offended by those who take advantage of a system set up to help people? Of course we are! Surely the Houston Police Department is rightfully ashamed and offended by the actions of two of their officers. And they must suffer the stigma of it, just as any groups associated with wrongdoers purged from their ranks.

In reality, when bad things are done by good people, other good people suffer with them.