I don't disagree.

But how does a national government change local police culture? Yes, they can increase the certainty that a police officer who abuses his power of punishment. We know that certainty of punishment is more of a deterrent than extremity of punishment. Automatic federal investigation of any police involved killing is a first step — but it’s no more than that.

Given that many of the cities experiencing large demonstrations (which I take to be a sign of problematic police culture) it’s not even clear that state government can move the needle. There are police unions, so any edict that fires all policemen in a precinct where there’s been an at-fault police killing will result in labor action, court cases, and, most likely, reinstatement of all the officers.

I think we need to change the general culture first. I’ve been looking at how the Irish were originally treated (Google ‘NINA’ if you don’t know about that) and how they’re treated now, hoping I might find an answer there.

Disclaimer: I’m a white guy, and have never had tense interactions with the police, except a few times back when I was a pot-smoking teen (loooong before legalization) and a couple of protest arrests.