The U.S. government had the right answer from the start: civilian control of the armed forces. State and local governments should have paid attention.

The commander in chief: a civilian. The ranking No. 2: a civilian secretary of Defense.

The American military isn’t perfect. But it’s basically disciplined and tends to keep the troops in line. Bad apples are routinely discarded.

Contrast that with local police and sheriffs’ departments — and, in much of their history, state prison guards. Bad apples stink up the entire place because they’re protected by the buddy system and hardly ever tossed.