The social role of the police must change

The current role of the police is aligned with aggression, fear, and prejudice. The problem with the current role of police is the systematic focus on violence and fear in their training. A 2006 report from the Justice Department displayed that officers spend most of their time training with firearms and self defense (about 111 hours) and the least amount of time on cultural diversity, community relations and conflict solutions (just 11 hours ^[1]). If police reform is to be a real solution for systemic violence, then police must shift their focus from aggression in any encounter and focus their training on resolving conflicts . Many situations that police aren’t currently prepared for are mental health crises. According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, mental health situations are responsible for about 1 in 10 police calls and a recent review by the Los Angeles Police Department reported that 37% of police shootings involve suspects with “documented signs of mental illness” ^[2]. The roles of police can no longer be simply catching and detaining criminals, they need reform to focus more on solving mental health crises and working to remove bias from their departments.