The safety of the Officer is first and foremost.
I couldn't disagree more with that statement. The safety of the general public is first and foremost. While an important aspect of doing that is to place a high value on the safety of the officer by avoiding dangerous situations and bringing dangerous situations quickly to a level of less danger, the shoot (and not necessarily literal shooting) first and ask questions later mentality that a few bad apples have does not contribute in the long run to the safety of either the general public or police officers. The sad thing is that by all accounts, Dallas is one of the police departments that was getting things done right.
Not that police departments can by themselves bring an end to over overly militarized police systems. Viewing our drug problem as a medical and social issue rather than a war is a good place to begin. Eliminate a lot of the non-productive things we ask police to do would both reduce their stress and give them time to focus on the real bad stuff.
