re: We, as a society, really dropped the ball on potential police reform

Typical boot licker mentality. There are obviously significant problems throughout the force and someone like you wants to ignore them

Blame the police for every thing is a ridiculous argument.

Police reform across the board isn’t needed. Over the past few years, most law enforcement agencies across this country have implemented body cameras to act as a quality control for policy and use force violations, attended multiple classes on implied bias policing, cultural awareness, ect.. Many have participated in midnight basketball leagues, cook outs, and other community outreach programs to build closer relationships with the youth and citizens they serve. Police Departments have trained their officers in conflict resolution and crisis management and encouraged diplomacy over use of force when applicable. Use of force policies have been amended and require officers to face greater threats before engaging combative or passively resisting suspects. Technology, such as non lethal items tools like tasers and pepper ball guns, have been provided to most departments to lower the use of hard empty hand strikes and the use of batons.

The list of REFORMS goes on much longer, but I am not going to spend all day pointing out all the efforts that have been made by police departments to become more transparent, accountable, and humane towards the citizens they police.

Every cop in this country agrees that Chauvin acted improperly and failed to recognize that his use of force was excessive. We all want him held accountable.

But please spare the cries for a complete overhaul of law enforcement in this country. Opportunist are exploiting one mistake, made by one cop, during one encounter to gain more leniency from law enforcement that holds them accountable. They are also trying to villainize all police officers in order to encourage them not to come into their communities and enforce law and order and to discredit police officers so that if they are arrested the officers are not deemed as credible in a court of law.

Don’t take the bait. If you cannot see through all the ulterior motives that are out there calling for police reform you are missing the biggest pink elephant in the room.

ETA: For full disclosure, I am a cop and I have three college degrees. Some of the best cops I have worked with don’t have the formal education I do. Honor, integrity, and common sense are what make some stand above others in this line of work.

Would better pay, forty hour work weeks and better training help you guys in blue? I’d place limits on overtime and second jobs too all to reduce stress and make officers less tired.

Without a doubt it would help. None of us ever expected to be rich when we got into this line of work. We traded the finer things in life for a life of purpose and a sense of duty to protect others.

Market value and a honest living would bring recruiting back to the levels that we all should demand.

Being over worked and working long days to make a living take a toll on everyone. Your patience and reasoning are one of the first things to go.

I have always thought this was a contributing factor during the Alton Sterling encounter in 2016. Officer Blane Salamoni, who worked nights at the time, spent the first half of his day working a foot patrol on the levee for the 4th of July. That meant he got off work at 7am, went to bed at some point, and was back up dressed and walking a beat at 3pm. His encounter with Sterling was later that night at midnight, half way through his shift that ended at 7am the next morning. Fatigue and patience were likely gone, thus a partial motive for the aggressive nature of his tactics.

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He (cop) acted like everyone in the bar was trying to start a riot. When in fact it was him that started the disruptive behavior

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They can be drama queens. I have a huge respect for them, but they have to police their own instead of letting the shitbirds get away with BS. They gotta stop protecting the shitbirds on the force.

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This is just the obvious issue: hot-headed "you wanna piece of this bro" types are the absolute worst police officers you could possibly have.


Yet, it seems police forces must think the ideal hire is "I came here drink beer or kick arse and I'm out of beer" dude from Dazed and Confused.

Here are a few ideas:
Eliminate qualified immunity, eliminate police unions, and pay brutality claims out of police pension funds.

Also, end or rework the “War on Drugs”. When you declare war on a populace, it’s that populace that becomes the enemy.

Personal use drugs with no intent to distribute should be a fine, not jail time. Think of all the $ wasted arresting, processing , and jailing users.