Discussion over the role of policing has flared up again in America recently, and while admittedly I don't have enough knowledge or personal experience to give any insights you couldn't get from having a chat with basically anyone who lives in a city rather than a small village I'll still give my basic perspective.
The recent protests, which are really only new versions of very old protests, show that the police need to be shifted from one above the common people to one amongst them. A mixture of recording police proceedings much more thoroughly and making them completely transparent to the public (by way of body cams and sunshine laws) would cut the tension massively. Ideally an attitude of kindness and community support rather than that of violence and persecution should be fostered among the police, but those are vager, squishier goals and so much more difficult to accomplish. (Ironically enough, accepting these demands would almost assuredly prevent violence coming to police officers better than any of their silliness would.)
Prison as punishment should be abolished. Focusing on reforming those who can be reformed as well as allowing those inside bars the ability to have a reasonable quality of life, learn and the ability to earn a living is critical in actually producing positive outcomes rather than just more suffering. Not to get too radical, but broadly speaking I'm against suffering.
There are much deeper societal problems behind each of these institutions, but those can't really be changed unless the whole system is, and I think it's best to try for what's possible now (Which, to be clear from a cursory glance BLM seems to be trying for! I think you gotta skim the websites of each side before you come to a conclusion in any debate, in such divisive times especially.)
Now that that's out of the way, THUD! is a terrific book by Terry Pratchett that follows commander Sam Vime's efforts to find the victim of a murder and avert a complete state of chaos within Ankh-Morpork. It deals with themes of race relations, policing and just a bit on parenthood. It's another genuinely terrific classic by Terry Prachett. While a novel by the perspective of a copper might not be the most popular in this climate (all custards being brittle and all that) I think it handles it gracefully. It morally refuses police use of lethal force, torture, corruption, and reiterates the police's role as not being that of judge, jury or exceutioner. "Once you had a good excuse, you opened the door to bad excuses.". It's a genuninely interesting mystery with some interesting supernatural elements mixed in. The writing is genuinely gripping and each character is fully fleshed out, at least to my ears. The audiobook version can be found here.
Next review is on "The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America ". So far I'm genuinely fascinated and I should have quite a bit more to say on it. Both the content of the book and its ramifications fascinate me, so I should have vastly more to say on it. Until next time! :p