zlacker

Some ideas:

- Less immunity, and discharge without pension for blatant violations, for example being caught on camera hiding a badge, or deliberately bumping into someone to be able to argue that they were "assaulted".

- Longer police traning. A 6-12months is how long you should train to be an unarmed mall security guy. Two or three years for a policeman seems like a minimum if you want qualified officers.

- Federal overview of all police and common frameworks for what is allowed and expected by police officers.

- Only qualified policemen should be allowed to be managers anywhere in the hierarchy (e.g. running for a Sheriff should require police traning and N years of experience).

- More training focus on deescalation, dialog and avoiding dangerous situations.

- Mental health screening. You don't want anyone who would become violent when in the wrong situation.

>>alkona+(OP)
Repeal of laws commonly used to drum up charges on civilians.

>>alkona+(OP)
In Germany there is a job called "Bäckereifachverkäuferin", which basically is a person specially trained to sell bread at a bakery. The training takes 3 years. This is not a joke.

>>alkona+(OP)
All great, but the problem with police is the same reason we don't use the military as our law enforcement agency. If all you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail.

-Traffic cops, patrolmen, and escort/guard details do not need to carry guns. They should not be pulling people over to fish for reasons to search and detain, they should not be arresting people. It's simply not necessary, and we should not use the same people that do SWAT raids for everyday things.

Aside from mass shootings and hostage situations, there are very situations in which shooting is reasonable. Let the criminals get away with the diamonds- imagine you're on the highway when a UPS truck flies past you and the air is suddenly filled with bullets. You're terrified; any one of those could end your life. Then you realize the police are the ones endangering you. Police should be trying to get to safety and get others to safety when guns are fired.

Dominance and submission have zero place in policing and should be legally punishable. The whole concept assumes that criminality is a single entity that will stop doing crimes if the police are dominant enough. It's ludicrous; the police should never be using law as a weapon.

>>alkona+(OP)
Yes. And this is quite the opposite of the current “defund the police” initiative. We actually need to fund them more to get the above to happen.

>>alkona+(OP)
I'll add one I forgot: outlaw any incentives to do "more policing" or more incarceration than nacessary. Fines should never end up in the hands of a local department. Any benefits provided by e.g. private prison companies to local police departments should be investigated as organized crime.

If there is an incentive program doing measurements it must never be measurements of "number of arrests" or similar. It should be measurements of job approval instead.

>>z9e+6d
I think people are sick of departments getting more funds and buying mine protected vehicles instead of sending officers to deescalation refresher classes.

>>alkona+dg
Most of those military vehicles are actually extremely cheap, they are given to the police by the military when the military no longer needs them. I think this was partially as a response to the north Hollywood shooting, where two bank robbers outgunned the police and injured a couple dozen officers and civilians before being killed.

>>alkona+(OP)
I would also like to see either a narrowing of the scope of the kinds of things the police are expected to handle or a broadening of the kinds of professionals employed as police.

There are plenty of calls where a mental health professional should either handle the situation entirely or at least be the one calling the shots.

>>alkona+(OP)
Add to that a concept of shit rolling uphill. My CEO is very serious about SOX compliance because if his subordinates mess up, he can go to prison. If cops have a history of malfeasance and are not removed, their superior should be removed. If systemic issues exist, the top should be removed. Then we will see some changes because incentives start to align.