I agree with you about community policing, and, of course about gun control.  
If we had community policing in our cities, there is every reason to believe that things would be very different.  Then, the police would know the people in the community, and the community would know them.  There would be a basis for mutual respect, and there would be far less inclination to use unjustified force.  
It's one of these really good ideas that never really got fully implemented.  It seems that it's more attractive to many to arm police units to the teeth than to work on community policing.