• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

German cops shot 11 people in all of 2016

That's almost a person per month. Even if it was self-defense, that's worrying. I hope this upwards trend doesn't continue, we should work towards zero, not 15 or 20.
 
Does Europe and the UK have even 1/10th of the violent crime the US does? Violent crime is a massive problem in the US and we should be ashamed we're not doing enough to combat it.
The biggest problem we face in the US is that right-wing advocates scream “get these violent criminals off the streets!” all day long, but they don’t realize that so much of violent crime has a root cause in massive income inequality, which they of course are in huge favor of.
 

Violet_0

Banned
Then again, these ordinary citizens are responsible citizens, who carry legally owned weapons. Following the NRA logic, why would a cop be afraid of an upstanding carrying citizen? They should be only afraid of criminals carrying weapons, which also exist in Europe and are approached with the same lack of knowledge about potentially hidden weapons.

Most of the recent scandals are about citizens minding their own business being shot for no real reason. Weapon discipline is a real problem for US cops, regardless of their target.

weapons need to be locked up, both at home or when you leave the house to go hunting. There are no open or concealed carry laws, you're not supposed to have a gun within reach at all times
 
This is why you use the Oxford Comma brah. Did you mean gun culture or US culture. It's the later not the former. US gun owners aren't exactly advocating people using guns to commit crime, so that doesn't really factor to policing!
Gun culture isn't really the core issue, gun laws might be more debatable, though, what changes police protocol is criminals having guns which they would even if that was a crime. (obv)

I can guarantee most criminals don’t have guns in the UK, why do you think we have people using knives, acid and trucks to commit terrorism?

Less guns in the US would definitely decrease gun crime.
 
Criminals do have guns in the UK, they are often either ancient and/or reactivated deactivated weapons but they also have 'proper' guns too. They are still much harder to get hold of and dangerous to be caught with from a legal point of view so most street thugs don;t have them.
 
Is the US violent crime rate 20 times that of Germany as well? I'm curious.

No love for the police here, I just think that they do have a bit more daunting of a task dealing with the crime here as compared to foreign countries, especially considering the ease with which the population can arm themselves.
 

kirblar

Member
Is the US violent crime rate 20 times that of Germany as well? I'm curious.

No love for the police here, I just think that they do have a bit more daunting of a task dealing with the crime here as compared to foreign countries, especially considering the ease with which the population can arm themselves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States#Violent_crime

Looks like it might be worse by a factor of 2 to 5 depending on category? (murder rate is much higher)
 

Theonik

Member
I can guarantee most criminals don’t have guns in the UK, why do you think we have people using knives, acid and trucks to commit terrorism?

Less guns in the US would definitely decrease gun crime.
This is about Germany. And isn't about gun crime, it's about police shootings. And it's an arms race really, UK criminals don't expect to enter a shootout with police so don't acquire guns generally. It's an easy way to change your charge from larceny to getting shot.

If on the other hand you expect police to fill you with lead either way then arming your self is the obvious option. Obviously this doesn't apply to serious gun crime in either instance.
 

kirblar

Member
This is about Germany. And isn't about gun crime, it's about police shootings. And it's an arms race really, UK criminals don't expect to enter a shootout with police so don't acquire guns generally. It's an easy way to change your charge from larceny to getting shot.

If on the other hand you expect police to fill you with lead either way then arming your self is the obvious option. Obviously this doesn't apply to serious gun crime in either instance.
Yes, it is. Make more guns available in the general population, they're more available to criminals and more will be use. Make them more available to criminals and the police are forced to adjust their protocols in response.

The mass proliferation of guns in the US is THE root of the issue. http://www.npr.org/2016/01/05/462017461/guns-in-america-by-the-numbers
According to the Congressional Research Service, there are roughly twice as many guns per capita in the United States as there were in 1968: more than 300 million guns in all.
The issue w/ addressing this is that the NRA is stupidly powerful.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States#Violent_crime

Looks like it might be worse by a factor of 2 to 5 depending on category? (murder rate is much higher)

So you would naturally expected a higher rate of police shootings as a result of the higher crime rate, but it seems like that alone is not enough to describe all of the increase. Caution by police due to prevalence of guns probably accounts for some more of the increase. But there's definitely some wiggle room there for lack of accountability, poor training, and numerous other causes.
 

Theonik

Member
Yes, it is. Make more guns available in the general population, they're more available to criminals and more will be use. Make them more available to criminals and the police are forced to adjust their protocols in response.
Again, Germany has an estimate 20m illegal firearms according to the police on a population of ~80m. Stricter gun laws certainly help though, if not in making possession of firearms a terrible idea for most petty crime.
 
It's not just about gun culture or uneducated cops in US. Large part of the problem is also completely broken justice and prison systems. People are sentenced to insanely lengthy sentences from even minor crimes and then treated like garbage in prison. When they get out they are often just more violent than they were when they went to prison. European system focuses on rehabilitation and treating prisoners like humans which also reduces crime rates.
 

Meadows

Banned
Only 7 shots were fired in the UK in 2016. Obviously it will be much higher in 2017 after the Westminster and London Bridge attacks.

Edit: for comparison, our population is 3x more than Florida which shot dead 71 people in 2015, compared to 3 in the UK that year.
 

Goofalo

Member
Police training in Germany has a duration of 24 to 45 months, depending on the state etc. How long is it in the US?

It depends. Some waive some training if you get a degree in criminal justice. Other's make you go through an academy. Even other's will just give you on the job training. Part of this is due to how big and varied the US is. A cop in Chicago will have different police role and mandate than say, a rez cop in South Dakota, or a rural sheriff's deputy.
 

Green Yoshi

Member
Meanwhile in Brazil, 920 people killed by the police in 2016... in Rio de Janeiro alone.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-...razilian-police-human-rights-crisis-un-review

This country is broken beyond repair.

I hope Americans get its act together. There are a lot of guns in Canada as well and I don't think that the crime rate in Canada is higher than in Germany. I think a strong social security system and investments in education can reduce violence in the long run.
 
Top Bottom