1. 1,000+ Americans are killed by cops every year. But when it comes to police reform, our stale debates are misguided: we're focusing solely on what the police *do* and not enough on who the police *are.* Let me explain, with a lesson from New Zealand: theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
2. The problem begins with self-selection. Just as tall kids are more likely to try out for a high school basketball team, power-hungry and abusive people will be disproportionately drawn to policing. (Indeed, domestic abuse rates are much higher in US police departments).
3. Now, watch this video that was previously on Doraville, Georgia's police department website. The video is insane. It makes policing look like an occupying army, where testosterone and military weapons in assault vehicles are central to the job.
4. Who watches that video and thinks: "sign me up!" The answer, unfortunately, is often the kinds of police officers who are trigger-happy, who love power for the sake of power, and who want to use the weapons that they get to play with as part of their military-style training.
5. This doesn't mean that all cops are power-hungry or abusive, but rather that abusive/power-hungry people are over-represented in the uniform. Most US reform proposals are about training, body cams - the kinds of things that can try to make a bad apple behave marginally better.
6. All of those reforms are worthwhile. But they ignore a huge part of the police abuse problem. New Zealand tried to tackle the self-selection problem head-on. Watch this NZ recruitment video below; it couldn't be more different.
7. As I explain in my new book, CORRUPTIBLE: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, it's often useful to think not just about the people in power, but also the people *not* in power. This is a crucial lesson from New Zealand. It led to a huge surge of non-traditional applicants. 
8. In the US, too many officers treat Ferguson like Fallujah. Too few departments are as diverse as the communities they serve. Smarter police recruitment/screening can help. But we must start by paying more attention to who becomes an officer, not just what current officers do.
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