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"How can police departments around the country improve? I don't know. Some ideas: "

The truth is quite a long answer but I will try to be short with my opinion.

The problem with the police everywhere started as far back as the early 1980's. In a nutshell there is so much wrong with our civilian police agencies that we really need to toss the whole idea and start over.

First the police should never possess military weapons, equipment, vehicles or training. Full auto weapons, AR15's, suppressors, night vision, BDU's, Explosives of any kind, Flash bangs, etc. We are not at war in our cities and neighborhoods. Equip men as a military force and train them in the same way and they will see citizens as the enemy and war like tactics and outcomes is what you will get.

SWAT teams need to be gone forever. This goes along with the first point.

No knock warrants are unconstitutional and should be gone forever.

Police should be known as Peace Officers and not law enforcement.

The police should never wear any color uniform other than blue. Police are not soldiers and should never be allowed to dress as such. The uniform of Blue identifies their nature.

The police have too much power in general. Until probable cause is established the police are not in charge of anything. We should recognize the public is the boss at all times and we never cede this authority until and upon probable cause. I'm not talking about directing traffic, and such. These situations the citizens need to recognize the officer as serving the community and follow instructions out of respect. Common sense must be used on this topic.

Officer safety is not paramount. Citizen safety must take priority over all else.

Lethal force is justified only if the officers life or the life of others is in immediate danger and only when there is no other way to resolve the danger.

Not a police issue but equally part of the problem. We have way too many laws, period.

I thought I could be short and yet I could go on and on. No, I'm not anti cop in any way shape or form. I'm pro citizen. When I was a young people trusted the police because the police trusted the people. Police officers fifty years ago looked at citizens with a very different eye. That has all changed today and is so far off the rails I return to the fact that the entire idea of policing needs to be tossed, returned to decades long past and started over.

AR15s are the most popular civilian MSP in America. Why shouldn’t police officers have access to them? Why should police officers dress like milkmen? A few years ago in my town a troubled man had a meltdown. I believe he killed his wife, had another family member hostage, and was firing on police from inside his home when they responded. This was by a busy road. They called in a SWAT team from the county. How else would you suggest such a situation be handled if the police are disarmed as you wish, and there is no SWAT team to call?

Look at Norco, North Hollywood, any number of similar incidents from the 1980s and 1990s. How would you suggest such incidents — that played a huge role in the “tacticalization” of police — be dealt with? No groups of armed citizens turned out to assist. The police were outgunned -and unsupported.

the entire idea of policing needs to be tossed, returned to decades long past and started over.

Crime and criminals, not to mention our whole society, has changed dramatically in decades. Policing can’t be done like it used to be, unless you live in Mayberry or Willoughby. I am pro-law enforcement, but cops who don’t follow the rules, need to be re-educated, if possible, or fired, if not. And BTW, suspects who “fell down the stairs on the way to the station”, is nothing new; there have always been cops who shouldn’t be cops. Those types need to be weeded out.