Is the American model of policing better? Not really, they are instutionalized slavecatchers put in place when the south lost reconstruction to the KKK.

The British model has a chance, they at least have a moral foundation to work from. https://lawenforcementactionpartnership.org/peel-policing-pr...

It's 2021 - well into the age of the internet.

What relevance has the practices which police ostensibly supplanted to the matter of how we handle public safety post-abolition?

Compared to where we were it is an amazing success. There is a high standard for replacing it with something else.