Accountability. Serious real accountability. (Easier to say than implement.)
De-escalation training. OMG de-escalation training and a really strong emphasis on the goal being everyone's safety, which is almost never achieved by anyone's violence (including the officer's which seems obvious to me but may not be so obvious).
Also a lot of training that includes the basic in theory but challenging in reality concept of not abusing their power (and *why* that is actually very very very hard even for well meaning people).
Training (lots of it!) in how to remain calm and objective in stressful situations. I believe they do generally get some of this, but there needs to be a lot of work on individual officers all really being aware of what their buttons are so they aren't reacting in response to them no matter how hard someone steps on those buttons. (This is part of the with power comes serious responsibility idea.)
There is also a lot of very critical anti-bias training, which I believe Somerville *does* do to some extent (and needs to do more!) which is one of those utterly necessary but not sufficient things.
Serious psychological testing that ruled out anyone with too much of a fondness for power and control would really help too. Those who have power should be very wary of it and treat it with the thoughtful respect needed to use it appropriately.
Lots of work to get ordinary police officers (and their supervisors!) out walking around talking to people a lot in pleasant ordinary situations helps too, because it pulls against an us/them mentality. (Putting officers on bicycles rather than in cars actually helps with this a fair amount, *if* they are explicitly encouraged to spend most of their time being accessible and taught *how* to do that.)
And taking the guns away from the ordinary officers on patrol. (This is the part I expect will meet vehement disagreement, and I do see how challenging it is in a heavily armed society. *But* if one has readily available deadly force it is just too easy to use it.)
In some way the accountability might be easier and more practical to implement than the deep structural institutional, psychological and cultural changes needed to change *how* their very real power is used and perceived by the officers themselves.
[One will note that the recent national trend towards municipal police forces acquiring more and more military grade gear and more and more training in how to essentially attack peaceful protests is rather the opposite of this.]
I actually *do* believe there is a real need for there to be a police force. Very much so. I just think that the training and culture was never optimal and has gotten *way* worse, to the point where they are potentially more part of the problem and a violent force to be feared than a force to mitigate violence and keep ordinary well meaning people safe.
Which is highly unfortunate, and not something for which I have concrete practical suggestions, only a vague outline of the minimum that would need to change.
De-escalation training. OMG de-escalation training and a really strong emphasis on the goal being everyone's safety, which is almost never achieved by anyone's violence (including the officer's which seems obvious to me but may not be so obvious).
Also a lot of training that includes the basic in theory but challenging in reality concept of not abusing their power (and *why* that is actually very very very hard even for well meaning people).
Training (lots of it!) in how to remain calm and objective in stressful situations. I believe they do generally get some of this, but there needs to be a lot of work on individual officers all really being aware of what their buttons are so they aren't reacting in response to them no matter how hard someone steps on those buttons. (This is part of the with power comes serious responsibility idea.)
There is also a lot of very critical anti-bias training, which I believe Somerville *does* do to some extent (and needs to do more!) which is one of those utterly necessary but not sufficient things.
Serious psychological testing that ruled out anyone with too much of a fondness for power and control would really help too. Those who have power should be very wary of it and treat it with the thoughtful respect needed to use it appropriately.
Lots of work to get ordinary police officers (and their supervisors!) out walking around talking to people a lot in pleasant ordinary situations helps too, because it pulls against an us/them mentality. (Putting officers on bicycles rather than in cars actually helps with this a fair amount, *if* they are explicitly encouraged to spend most of their time being accessible and taught *how* to do that.)
And taking the guns away from the ordinary officers on patrol. (This is the part I expect will meet vehement disagreement, and I do see how challenging it is in a heavily armed society. *But* if one has readily available deadly force it is just too easy to use it.)
In some way the accountability might be easier and more practical to implement than the deep structural institutional, psychological and cultural changes needed to change *how* their very real power is used and perceived by the officers themselves.
[One will note that the recent national trend towards municipal police forces acquiring more and more military grade gear and more and more training in how to essentially attack peaceful protests is rather the opposite of this.]
I actually *do* believe there is a real need for there to be a police force. Very much so. I just think that the training and culture was never optimal and has gotten *way* worse, to the point where they are potentially more part of the problem and a violent force to be feared than a force to mitigate violence and keep ordinary well meaning people safe.
Which is highly unfortunate, and not something for which I have concrete practical suggestions, only a vague outline of the minimum that would need to change.
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