I think this is a bad idea. We really need drastically more police training on things like de-escalation. I think we actually also need more police. Part of our problem is that while putting police in cars and dispatching them centrally via radio let us cut down on the number of police we use it also had the effect of making police officer isolated from the community. The start of this in the US was during Prohibition and this was looked on as a plus at the time in terms of enforcing laws communities didn't agree with.
Making the police's only community contacts be with criminals means that they subconsciously absorb social norms from criminals and I think that's on display right now. We need to purse community policing even at the cost of decreased efficiency. We can't get rid of the police and the US's current system is obviously not working.
It's a tough pill to swallow, but people need to realize that police are not social workers and must not be treated as such. They are violence workers. Their purpose is to fulfill the objective of the state using force if necessary.
If the goal is a smaller amount of police related violence, something as vague as "de-escalation training" training is the wrong way to get there. If you want less police related violence, focus on minimizing public interaction with police.
I think it's very important in situations like this to have a goal in mind. I don't see abolishing the police as an option here, martial law and self-help justice are even more undesirable than our current situation. So changes have to be made with a view to creating a better world rather than just lashing out to make ourselves feel better. Countries like Britain show that good policing is a possibility so we should be working towards reforms that make that possible.
It's not lashing out, it's a calculated decision to reduce the power of the adversary.
> Countries like Britain show that good policing is a possibility so we should be working towards reforms that make that possible.
Just because we call our thing "police" and they call their thing "policy" doesn't mean there is a direct path of reform from one to the other.
The situation in the US is very different from other rich nations---former widespread slavery, more guns, fewer social services. All this in forms the culture of the institution in the US as much anything it has in common with other rich countries.
Defunding and simultaneously reinvesting in this areas addresses exactly these underlying conditions---the Police are forced to do less and other agencies are empowered to do more. Then, and only then, can the US police be expected to act like their Western European counterparts.
Making the police's only community contacts be with criminals means that they subconsciously absorb social norms from criminals and I think that's on display right now. We need to purse community policing even at the cost of decreased efficiency. We can't get rid of the police and the US's current system is obviously not working.