The proper role of the police

Any encounter between police and unarmed civilians which results in the death of a civilian has to be reckoned a massive failure on the part of the police.  Even if the individual officer involved is ultimately exonerated of wrongdoing, the officer is still responsible for a massive failure to manage the situation correctly and is probably guilty of drastic incompetence at best.

Indeed, any encounter that escalates into violence must be regarded as a major failure on the part of the police.

Police exist to serve and protect the public - to ensure order and public safety.  Any citizen who has not been demonstrated to present an immediate threat to public order and safety is still a member of the public whom the police are sworn to serve and protect, regardless of whatever crime or misdemeanor they may be suspected of having committed.

Jaywalking is not a crime worthy of capital punishment.  Neither, for that matter, is failure to comply with an order from a police officer.

If any member of the police speaks in terms of compliance, s/he ipso facto demonstrates an improper attitude - an attitude that fails to understand the correct relationship between the police and the public.

The extent to which the ability of the police to maintain order depends on authority is a measure of the failure of that police department.  If the police are able to establish order only through force and/or threats of force, then they have failed to develop a proper relationship to the community they are supposed serve and have an incorrect attitude towards the community they are supposed to serve and have an improper understanding of their role in society and the nature of their relationship to the community they are supposed to serve.

Adopting a quasi-military approach to dealing with a public disturbance - e.g. wearing riot gear and wielding military weapons - is in itself evidence of a major failure of a police department to understand its proper role in society, which is to protect and serve the public.  Protect.  Serve.

Any police department that sends its officers out in military gear is a police department in need of reform and new leadership.