“Saying ‘there have been instances in which some officers have misused their authority’ quite intentionally characterizes the problem as one of isolated incidents, perpetrated by a few officers who can be identified and removed, thereby solving the problem… But what if the problem is not one of a ‘bad cop’ here or there but something systemic and structural, requiring dramatic and deep reform? This is not an idea the White House is willing to entertain…

“I’m not saying that none of the things the executive order discusses would be worthwhile if viewed in isolation. Would more and better training for police on handling mental health issues be a good thing? Sure. It would be much better, however, if we discarded the presumption that when someone is in a mental health crisis, what we do is send a couple of people with guns to deal with them…

“The truth is that there are limits to what the federal government can do to reform policing when law enforcement mostly takes place at the local level. But at a minimum, you need a federal government eager to examine the problem honestly and do more than just issue an executive order that says it will look into suggesting some cosmetic changes.”
Paul Waldman, Washington Post

“New York banned chokeholds. Seattle required de-escalation training. Los Angeles restricted shooting at moving vehicles. But those reforms did not stop police from killing Eric Garner, Charleena Lyles or Ryan Twyman, who died when officers used the very tactics that the changes were supposed to prevent… given the failure of many past reforms, a coalition of activists actively opposes such moderate policy shifts and argues the US needs more radical change…

“They point at the continued power and influence of police unions and legal protections for police officers accused of wrongdoing and excessive force as barriers to change. If police and politicians who oversee law enforcement continue to adopt policies that focus on fixing individual behaviors, they say, it will not address institutional and deeply embedded cultural problems. Instead, they are backing efforts to immediately reduce police power and size, as a way to move toward dismantling police departments and creating different models of safety.”
Sam Levin, The Guardian

“We could have set up a society in which our instincts would have told us to call a Lyft to take a drunk man home, or to knock on his window and ask if a loved one could come get him. But we didn't. Because of that, too many of us have been conditioned to believe guys with guns are our best option, or the only real one…

“We are the United States of America, the shining city on the hill, the place the rest of the world looks for guidance. And yet, we far outpace every other advanced country in the rate of police killings and mass incarceration. If we really are exceptional -- as we keep insisting we are -- that can't be by accident. We like it this way.”
Issac Bailey, CNN