General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: There are roughly 800,000 cops in the United States... [View all]struggle4progress
(118,273 posts)many people would be delighted to contemplate them
I myself would not much favor (say) libertarian-style solutions, such as privatizing the police, since I don't think that promises any improvement; and I would say the same about vague anti-institutional anarchist ideas
Most police are under the control of local or state government, which means that the mechanisms of review ultimately lie with local or state voters
Various specific steps might bring the numbers down for varying reasons, such as reducing availability of guns on the streets (which might decrease both the number of confrontations with armed suspects and officer sensitivity to possible weapons), easier access to mental health services (which might decrease encounters with erratic citizens), improved stress counseling of officers, and so on