2 radical conservative changes to the police--

These are radical changes but in accord with conservative principles. There is an alternative to making the Federal government even more powerful. 

1. Local control. Control by a city of 3 million, more people than were in the whole United States in 1789, is not that local. It is quite reasonable that neighborhoods want to choose police that reflect their values and priorities. And even their ethnic group. I don't support affirmative action in any other case, but I do here. A precedent--Candidates for the military academies like West Point are not chosen only by merit. They are nominated by each congressman. The Founding Fathers wanted the military to be representative of the people. Let different neighborhoods choose their police, make the rules, and own the hard choices between public safety and respecting the rights of suspects.

2. Reduce the power of police unions. 

(Aside to fellow conservatives: think about police unions the way you think about other government employee unions)

Most of us can be fired at anytime if our boss doesn't think we are doing a good job. Firing a policeman is like a trial where the boss has to prove to other officers that he should be fired. If a boss thinks an employee is not doing a good job, the employee probably isn't, but proving it can be a lot harder. 

Because it's so hard to fire police, a city has to wait decades for officers to retire before it can make big changes in a department. This, combined with too-large cities, means many blacks and hispanics live in cities with majority white police departments, even though the non-white population is 500,000 or more. 

These changes would not solve every problem for sure. They would not solve the problems minorities encounter in white neighborhoods. But they would end the feeling that police are an occupying army in minority neighborhoods. Maybe neighborhood police departments would find new ways to keep us safe with less violence to suspects. Maybe neighborhoods will find they can't do better. I think they will probably not reduce the number of shootings, which statistics show are in proportion to crime rates of different groups. I think they will make police better at spotting likely criminals to stop, vs law abiding citizens, and being respectful to people they stop.