Since you mentioned “the root of the problem”… The US police force has a higher budget than every other country in the world’s ENTIRE DEFENSE BUDGET (except China). So tHE US police get more money than whole country’s standing armies, like UK, France, Germany, etc. it’s insane. Defund the fucking police. They have plenty to spare and still be effective and the highest paid police force in the world. The departments are budgeted so high so they can buy the military surplus, to keep the population in check, and to feed the prison industrial complex filled with workers (there are cases where private prisons make deals with states’ governors to guarantee minimum occupancy of prisons so the governors keep high penalties for nonviolent crimes so the prisons get inmates to A: warrant their budgets and B: to use as slave labor. I say slave labor because the 13th amendment says slavery is ok as a form of punishment. Seriously. Defund the fucking police and use that to fund anything from mental healthcare, breakfast and lunch programs for kids, more and better homeless shelters, free higher education all so people aren’t so fucking desperate they turn to crime and can make better choices and have a chance at a better life. Also, better water and air so less pollution from cars/planes would make a huge improvement on crime via fewer people negatively impacted cognitively by said pollution