Why are there fewer police shootings elsewhere?
Last month, the Christian Science Monitor — one of the last bastions of journalistic integrity (IMO) — ran this piece about the stark differences between policing here in the US, and the rest of the world.
In context of the ongoing flap over untrained “good guys with a gun” being the solution to mass shootings (with which I VEHEMENTLY disagree), this article is worth a read. The money paragraph is here:
Yet even where guns are routinely carried, use of them is far rarer in Europe and some other English-speaking countries than in the US. Many experts link that partly to education and pay, which have turned policing into a well-respected career with prestige and perks. In the US, police training lasts on average 19 weeks. In much of Europe that would be unthinkable, says Mr. Kersten. German police, for example, train for at least 130 weeks.
Contrasts? German Polizei have fatally shot four times so far this year. American Police in the same period? 400.
How much training does your typical American open-carry evangelist receive? Hint: it’s less than American police.
One last quote from the article, from German Col. Tieme, director of police training and resources for Rhine-Westphalia:
“We try to make all police officers recognize that you are not a good guy if you are shooting. You are a good guy if you are not shooting.”
Read the rest of the article: