Nonviolent policing #1: Motivating change

Research into disincentives to police and their departments to employ violent compliance, especially to lethal levels, shows that reforms are needed in many jurisdictions in the US (Scott & Viscusi, 2021). These changes, argue the authors, include shifting punitive damage costs from the government's general funds to police officers and their departments, ending qualified immunity, and aligning punitive damages to the US federal value of statistical life (VSL), which would combine to produce effective pressure on police bureaus to change. 

How would police departments change? It would likely be a mix of far more stringent educational achievement and psychological fitness hiring requirements, much better deëscalation training in basic pre-duty weeks, and ongoing enhanced trainings as research develops new and more effective methods of less and less violent policing. 

Reference

Scott, Jeffrey, & Viscusi, W. Kip. (2021). The locale and damages of fatal policing. Denver Law Review, 99(1), 37-86.