In the news

Actions and reactions as far as crimes go is fine with me, no need to intimidate people though surely? Just warn and then issue a suitable punishment (fines, jail, whatever) as decided by the masses? From the rioting point of view: get enough police on the case and don't budge... detain those who dare to push their luck, excessive force would have been mindless and would've upped the aggression (at that time or at future riots, etc).

As far as respect for the police goes... In my opinion respect doesn't come from experience or humiliation (the opposite rings true for me), respect comes from having care. Perhaps you went down a different path because you cared about what your parents thought, or some other external insight from the careless/no regard for social "norms" mentality?

Essentially instilling social "norms"/laws through aggression/intimidation is never going to work in my opinion, you have to work out why some individuals decided to cut lose from lawful society and go from there.

You respect the police for keeping you safe and having care only if you're a law abiding citizen. Young people who don't care about the law and are just out for trouble need to respect the police for different reasons. Not that the police need to be unnecessarily aggressive, but in the same way that you dread a particularly strict teacher harshly having a go at you if you are caught doing something wrong, people should fear the repercussions of the police if they are committing a crime.

And +1 to everything whatok has said so far