I'm a retired rocket scientist and not very political so I will keep this brief. We have had a problem with persistent racism in this country since before the Civil War and we have continued to smile and paper it over. It is past time to fix it, if we can. That black or brown mothers have to have "the talk" with children and how to behave if you are pulled over by the police is simply not acceptable.
I am not advocating shutting down all police departments, in fact, my solution is to add money to the police so that we have criminal policing, petty crimes policing, social help policing, mental help policing, etc. We are asking way too much from our current police departments with limited staff and training. How do we effect these changes? The vast majority of Police Departments are funded locally by the cities and have become political pawns in the current progressive movement. This is unfortunate and will probably be the primary cause for failure for police reform.
I propose we all advocate for adding special members to the police departments trained in non-violent problem solving. A unit responding to a call would have multiple members with different skills and the most appropriate member would take charge of the scene. Right now way too many scenes are turning violent. Will this approach work? I don't know, but at least it offers hope. Defunding the Police and let crime get out of control doesn't pass my smell test.