If my uniform, badge and education cannot protect me from anti-black violence, what can? Now is the time to get to the heart of the matter: There must be a major effort to fundamentally restructure police departments so that they actually do what they promise: Serve and protect all people.
This should include a change at all levels. Here's what we must do to get started:
►Require higher aptitude and fitness standards for incoming recruits.
►Require regular mental health check-ups to deal with the stress and challenges of law enforcement.
►Develop a nationwide database of all officers to prevent bad officers from jumping departments to avoid marks on their permanent record.
►Stop promoting officers to become supervisors who have multiple disciplinary complaints, particularly, to positions of first-line leaders like sergeants and lieutenants.
►Rehabilitation within police unions. Their intransigence makes it almost impossible to fire and hold officers accountable for breaking the law and the public’s trust.