But that’s almost entirely true. There are 328,000,000 people in the U.S., 800,000 officers, and nearly 18,000 law enforcement agencies. Of course there are going to be bad people in every profession and walk of life. Heck, we’ve got one in the White House.
It’s becoming glaringly obvious (especially with media reporting on covid-19): “Dog Bites Man,” isn’t news. “Man Bites Dog,” is news.
There are two issues here - one, you mentioned - getting rid of bad police. That's not the biggest problem. Even if all bad police are immediately and forever purged, the way we police is fundamentally bad and causes a host of problems.
1. We need to stop treating neighborhoods like occupied territory. These are our fellow citizens, not enemy combatants.
2. Police need to walk neighborhoods, on foot, all the time. Cars isolate them. Cars disconnect them from learning the people and habits of a neighborhood - who goes where and does what when. When cops know this, they can know when someone is not where they should be, know when something is wrong. It takes time for cops to learn a neighborhood and earn trust by his presence in that neighborhood.
3. We need to stop buying heavy artillery for policing. No police department needs anti-tank guns and military grade weapons in police cars. The need for SWAT is limited, so we can reduce the size dramatically and save money.
4. We need to get rid of 'qualified immunity' - police should be accountable to the rule of law like any other citizen who sometimes get caught up in the heat of the moment.
5. We need to bring back a variation of the old Police Athletic League only do more than teach boxing. Police and / police funded social workers needs to be a presence in challenged areas to mentor and be a resource for kids without home support. Build the bridge, offer hands up and you won't build as many lock ups.
No one seriously wants to defund down to penniless existing police departments, but we need to but less armor on the street and more resources to help keep people seeing results if they are working to go in the right direction. Better schools are critical and so is much better health care and access to it - especially for younger people. The solution needs to holistic, not piecemeal.