No system can be perfect but there are a whole lot of things that we could do to make our law enforcement community more humane, professional and community oriented.
- End the Drug War. Police are supposed to protect citizens from other citizens. the Drug War involves the police spying on, kidnapping and killing citizens, particularly poor citizens of color.
- End preferences for veterans. Veterans should get preferences in hiring for any other form of civil service aside from policing. The mindset that keeps a soldier alive in Iraq or Afghanistan is the mindset that causes them be needlessly aggressive in the course of police work.
- End preferences for criminal justice majors. Any other degree should get applicants more points, particularly social and behavioral sciences.
- The police academies should make education about the economic, social, political and cultural realities of the communities, which they will soon be policing, a major part of the curriculum.
- Demilitarize the dress, language and terminology of the police force. Stop with camouflage outfits, assault rifles, buzz cuts, combat boots and calling your fellow citizens "combatants."
- Deunionize the police force so they cannot lobby for more and harsher laws (the notion that the police are "just enforcing the laws" and don't make them is untrue and antiquated).
- Raise the base pay and eliminate any bonuses or other incentive programs that reward more arrests or higher clearance rates.
- Bring in civilian review boards.
The political feasibility of each item varies from slim to nonexistent but we all know that those proposals would drastically change the relationship between the police and the communities which they are supposed to serve and protect.