I want to offer some preliminary comments, very preliminary, because a five-art series such as this offers a great deal to digest.

Focus on department as whole, their ability to serve the public interest in a manner consistent with the Constitution & greater good, & hold supervisors accountable for malfeasant cops.

I believe that summarizes your position (though oversimplifying considerably). I'm intrigued.

Police reform has been a topic of interest for me for many years now. LA is my home town, &, as Joe Domanick write in his history of the LAPD, Angelenos are obsessed with their department in ways residents of other cities don't understand.

Or didn't.

I think there's a great deal of merit in your proposal to turn the baby around: Focus on the department as a whole. How would that work in say Chicago, where Jacob Toledo was clearly shot to death after complying with the officer's commands?

Using a paper trail to defang police unions & get rid of bad actors. Good. But I do believe, as many cops & law & order types claim, that bad guys who were caught fair & square by honest, hard-working cops sometimes do file complaints to hang up the guy who arrested them. Suppose, for example, George Floyd survived his assault by Derek Chauvin. No one films it. Floyd files a complaint, as he should. But, given his record, who would believe him? Would you?

On the other side, I spent several years reading & writing to the old Usenet group alt.law-enforcement & I know a lot of street cops believe that multiple complaints just mean a guy's doing his job. Many of these are the ones who go on to be supervisors.

I also believe that the public must be educated about law enforcement, its strengths & weaknesses. Too many people believe the saw "cops see it all". Quite obviously they don't. They see a particular view of people, especially people who are culturally or ethnically different from them. Is it any surprise some develop a jaundiced view? After all, no one calls 911 to help celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, or take part in their kid's bar mitzvah party.

Thanks for making this available. I have some ideas for police reform I'd like your reaction to when you have time. More tomorrow.