How would you fix American policing

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Peelian principles

1 - “The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.”

2 - “The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.”

3 - “Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.”

4 - “The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.”

5 - “Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to the public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.”

6 - “Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.”

7 - “Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”

8 - “Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.”

9 - “The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.”

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

1) Give the individual officer benefit of the doubt. They personally are influenced by their training and the amount of stress on their job.
-Brings another debate if cops should really be trained to shoot to kill?

American (and most other places) train their cops to "shoot to stop the threat", not "shoot to kill"...though it is often the same thing in practice.  "shooting to wound" is Hollywood nonsense.  Guns should only be used in life threatening situations, shooting a leg is not going to stop a determined human with a weapon from using that weapon.

Not to mention, any accurate use of firearms in self defense requires constant practice. Maintaining profiency typically takes at least two range sessions every week, with additional body/awareness/motion practice outside of that. Most police officers train with their weapon twice a year.

Cops with guns make me personally nervous, more than anything else because I don't trust them to have the training to use them responsibly.