I can’t really speak to what policing was like in the 90’s because I was just a bit too young to remember. I totally agree that things changed for the worse after 9/11, and seem to have both regressed as well as becoming more visible due to the internet.
I don’t claim to have all the answers, and I am by no means anti-police. I respect that it is an incredibly difficult job that taxes the psyche of those who choose to pursue that career path. There needs to be a mutual respect, and strategy between the population and its public servants. It is just a microcosm of the major societal problems we are wrestling with in the United States more broadly.
I wish people would put a greater emphasis on pursuing well-being through creative problem solving rather than focusing on partisan politics or the “culture war”. If we could start by focusing on issues where there is positive public sentiment rather than hyper-focusing on small ideological differences I think most people would realize that their differences don’t really matter as much as they thought. I choose to be cautiously optimistic that we can get there.