In any bad situation I’m remotely involved in, I always seek to find the silver lining that’s often hidden in the dark clouds that linger during or after such incident or event.

Enter the tense situation last Friday at Walmart, where a man alleged he was in the store, in possession of a gun and was having suicidal thoughts.

Police in Farmville and at Longwood University didn’t assume this was a hoax — as it ended up to be — but treated it as a serious situation, shutting the store down and evacuating those inside for their and the town’s safety.

Come to find out, according to police, there was no man with a gun in the store, and the call was retaliatory in nature toward a Walmart employee who refused to fall victim to the man’s internet loan scam.

Not only are area law enforcement to be commended for their work, precision and unity, but the Walmart employee who cut off communication with the scammer also deserves credit. The employee knew that what the man was doing was trying to cheat them out of hard-earned money.

I also believe that this incident — the silver lining I referred to earlier — displayed the unity shared among our area law enforcement agencies.

In addition to law enforcement from Farmville and Longwood, deputies from Prince Edward County Sheriff’s Office were on scene, along with Cumberland County deputies and troopers with Virginia State Police.

As I’ve said before, this community is blessed to have such hardworking men and women in the ranks of area law enforcement agencies patrolling our streets, responding to our needs and keeping our community as safe as possible through prevention, planning and strategy.

JORDAN MILES is managing editor of The Farmville Herald and Farmville Newsmedia LLC. His email address is Jordan.Miles@FarmvilleHerald.com.