Americorps style residency in low income areas for, let's say, five years.
After such period, with exemplary behavior, one would become eligible for subsidized home ownership in a high income, single family zoned community - with similar covenants on professionalism and decorum.
It's win-win-win:
- Low income areas get young eager beavers who actually live and work in their neighborhoods - and are strongly incentivized to do good.
- Blue-collar workers (the police, very often BIPOC) have a pathway to home ownership and integration into higher income areas.
- Those areas end up with a police force that lives (and polices, and raises their kids) locally in their area.
Who decides "exemplary behavior"? If it's the current institutions, then anything up to and excluding shooting people in their beds at the wrong house will still be "exemplary".
That's the point - it's an end-run around the existing police institutions and unions, etc.
Both destinations - the communities that one polices in during the five year "public service" stint and the eventual destination communities with the subsidized housing - would create their own rules as to what constitutes "exemplary behavior".
There is nothing that the existing policing structures can offer that trumps subsidized home ownership in an affluent/upscale community. The officers will listen to the community and follow their rules.
Note: this is a very rough first expression of an idea I've been kicking around for a while so I will admit it's a little rough around the edges.
I really like this idea, but you're going to need major top-down cultural changes as well. In the USA, I think it might have to come from Congress and/or SCOTUS, and their heads are very very far up their asses in this regard.
Americorps style residency in low income areas for, let's say, five years.
After such period, with exemplary behavior, one would become eligible for subsidized home ownership in a high income, single family zoned community - with similar covenants on professionalism and decorum.
It's win-win-win:
- Low income areas get young eager beavers who actually live and work in their neighborhoods - and are strongly incentivized to do good.
- Blue-collar workers (the police, very often BIPOC) have a pathway to home ownership and integration into higher income areas.
- Those areas end up with a police force that lives (and polices, and raises their kids) locally in their area.