Past protests drew huge crowds, obsessive media attention, and overwhelming public support. But most achieved little in the way of real, lasting change. This past week, however, we witnessed a remarkable (and regrettably rare) scene: protestors demanding sweeping change actually got what they asked for. The Minneapolis Police Department has been disbanded. Systemic change is finally on the table. But what's next?

Many have called for "community policing." But what does that entail? "The first policing was," in fact, "community policing," according to The Globe and Mail. Until 1829, crime-ridden London did not have a professional police force. When introduced, it faced staunch opposition from citizens to whom the police seemed like an occupying militia — but funded by, and licensed to abuse, the tax-paying public. Robert Peel recognized both the need for a better way to reduce crime and the potential of going too far. As Home Secretary, Peel created England's first professional police force, "designed to maintain close ties with and to draw support from the people it policed."

Among his "nine principles," Peel emphasized that, ideally, "the police are the public and that the public are the police," and that their power "is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect." In other words, the legitimacy of the police rests on the approval of the very people they are supposed to serve: the public. If police departments cannot win the public's respect, if they do not ensure but instead endanger its safety, if they side with private power over public peace, then they do not deserve to receive the public's tax dollars. For violating Peel's principles, they must then be disbanded.

Community policing — what Peel advocated in 1829 — isn't a far-flung fantasy. At nearly 200 years old, it isn't even a new idea. It increases public confidence. It reduces crime. It staves off corruption. Not just in theory, but in practice — it works.

The road ahead may be long. But we must fight for a total overhaul of law enforcement. To start, we must demand total transparency on the part of our police. That chokeholds and other forms of violent coercion be banned absolutely. That police reflect and respect the communities that they serve — they should be members of those same communities. And every single cop must wear a body camera.

As the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has made clear (if it wasn't already), we must boldly re-think the status quo — from policing to the environment to the economy to our politics. Now more than ever, we must stand together in radical, compassionate solidarity.