> for minor problems whether cops should be called at all <
I can’t remember what city it was, but about a month ago I was reading about a city that was looking into what you said there.
For something serious, they would send a cop. But for something minor (like, say, a noise complaint) they would send another kind of responder- an unarmed city representative.
And it’s important that the responder be unarmed. Because otherwise you start running into use-of-force problems, just like we have now.
There’s a chance that might work in sleepy little towns. Help grandma get her cat out of a tree, that sort of thing. But anyplace else, I’d have to say no. Too many of those responders would be easy targets for angry folks, drunk folks, crazy folks, etc.
I think, even in larger areas, that are not gang zones, it would have a positive effect. The whole is about reducing the police presence without losing safety.