Thought provoking article. You’ve identified some critical problems. From a solutions perspective, police training is sorely in need of an upgrade. Perhaps a college degree and an age requirement would attract a more well-rounded candidate. Currently, police officers have sky high suicide, divorce, and mental illness rates. Is it the job or the people attracted to the job? Research is vital here. Second, some states have used mental health professionals along with police with excellent results. It’s an area where the police are very weak in satisfactory conflict resolution. Community policing, when deployed properly, has numerous upsides but takes patience, understanding and training. Effective community policing prevents that Us VS Them mindset that seeps into police departments and inevitably leads to charges of racism, excessive violence and the blue wall of silence. Police provides a critical role in public safety. They are a valuable resource and we should focus on making the job, the people in the job and the their relationship to the people they protect much, much better.