The events in Ferguson and the growing public spotlight being shined on police departments acquiring military hardware, being too fast to pull their weapons and shooting unarmed men, and other abuses show that the Police are being trained with the wrong mindset.
Too many people in the United States now get afraid when they see a police car. I believe we should feel more secure when we see one.
If the police show up somewhere in full body armor wielding assault rifles, they will also adopt a mindset of invincibility and infallible authority - and their "officer presence" will be replaced with a more "military" mindset.
We'll never return to "Adam-12" style policing - but it wouldn't hurt if police were reformed to be less like the military, and more like the policing of 30 years ago