In the “good old days” the British neighborhood policeman was not just a law enforcer; he was also a social worker and man-of- all-work, known to all locally, even by name.   If your grannie with alzheimer’s disappeared and couldn’t find her way home, it was the local Bobby who would find her and escort her back. If some young yob threw a stone and broke your front window it was the local Bobby who routed him out and gave him a good talking to (or had him before a magistrate).  If your house alarm unexpectedly went off while you were out it would be the ubiquitous  Bobby who found his way into the house and turned it off.

And then came the squad car, and suddenly all the police were riding around in vehicles, dependent on radio calls from base and shut off from the people they knew and had been serving.  Quite quickly they lost that personal contact with the customers of the law, and those customers seldom saw the same policeman twice in a month, always through a car window, names unknown.  Putting police in squad cars was the stupidest thing done to law enforcement (although fewer policemen were needed, which. was the financial point, everything being about money).

Now take a look at American policing, and you see a parallel problem, except that the police are militarised and  are armed with guns, tasers and cameras. 

We are debating the de-funding of the police.  No.  Don’t do that.  Take away their squad cars, make them patrol on foot (or on a mobile segue (? ) and get to know the neighborhood and the residents.  O.K, this is America, so I suppose I have to compromise and let them keep their wretched guns.