Great post and discussion. The defund and demilitarize discussion is so counterproductive and is exactly why this problem persists and never gets solved. Politicians/activists do two things which paralyzes the discussion:
1. They automatically lump excessive force and race. These are two very very different problems and need to be addressed separately, in each case and globally. Did the cop in the Floyd case use excessive and unnecessary force, 100%. Is he a racist? We don't know. You can address these questions/investigations separately in a very effective and efficient way. Immediately lump them together and you get nowhere fast, particularly in the current political environment.
2. They don't let the system work, even for a minute. Police officers have varying levels of qualified immunity for their actions. This is a absolute necessity to allow them to do their jobs. But it takes time to investigate ALL the evidence. The system actually works most of the time (not all the time, but it never does in our judicial system), but when politicians/athletes/celebrities, etc. immediately jump to "an innocent/unarmed black person was murdered by a racist white cop", the process is screwed and you have what we have now. I certainly understand that people on every side will raise heck and protest and yell, which is perfectly fine and expected. But leaders need to be above that on individual cases. Clearly this discussion is needed, but right now there are very few people that can actually carry the discussion and even pretend to make a long-term difference.
I have law enforcement in my extended family. My BIL was a police officer. He's college educated and loves law enforcement. He counted every day as a police officer until he could become a federal officer. He ultimately became a US Marshall. Much better pay, less risk, better retirement, better training, better resources, etc. We lose way too many good police officers for these reasons.
My thoughts on your question:
1. Better hiring. Many companies do extensive personality profiling prior to hire. I've know a lot of police officers through my BIL. 5 minutes into a conversation and you could tell the one(s) that would be prone to letting anger and frustration creep into their job. We need to make sure those types aren't hired. Someone mentioned mental health above. Absolutely agree. These are incredibly high stress jobs that most of us cannot fathom. They need to have this resource available at all times, to help them and identify those that may have problems. This would include racial, discriminatory and prejudicial screening as well as anger management, stress tolerance, anxiety, etc.
2. Dedicate MORE money. Higher salaries, better training, better retirement, etc. We need to be able to recruit and retain good police officers. Training, training, training.
3. As advanced as we are technologically, I don't understand why there haven't been more advancement in non-lethal resources. Tasers don't work on drugged out individuals or may not pierce thick clothing. We have to provide them better and more reliable non-lethal equipment.
4. Universal body cams. Absolutely.
Finally, somewhere in this, someone, anyone who can make a difference also has to get through to people that whether you think police officers are evil or fantastic, if you will just listen, follow basic instructions and not resist, the chances of even having a gun pulled on you is virtually non-existent, much less getting shot. With that said, the vast majority of examples that make headlines are people with criminal records that have the cops called on them for what they are doing and they then resist, flee, attack and the only real way to stop those people from getting shot is special operations-type training on hand-to-hand combat/subdue techniques AND reliable, effective non-lethal equipment.