https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/us/kenosha-shooting-protests-jacob-blake.html
The story linked to above is roughly how a vigilante attempting to protect property (and then himself) from violent mobs shot several people to death.
Vigilantes are a natural result when there is no police presence. People who feel physically threatened or feel their property is being threatened will respond violently.
The vigilante in this case may not have owned the property, but been trying to protect someone else’s property and may even have been a member of some wack job militia. This is not relevant to my thoughts here though.
I think we must have police due to the violence, selfishness, and perhaps even evil that is inherent to human nature. Defunding the police is a nonstarter. People will not magically start getting along, or stop violently attacking, raping, and murdering one another.
The police themselves in America need to be held accountable to following the highest principles of justice. For this to happen, the corruption of their unions must be stopped. Shut down and ban police unions and hold individual officers accountable and people will trust the police again.