Why Do American Cops Kill So Many Compared To European Cops?
U.S. police kill people at far higher rates than in England, Germany, France and the rest of Europe. Guns,聽standards and training play a big part.
Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke with first degree murder Nov. 24 in the death of Laquan McDonald. A shows Van Dyke shooting the teenager 16 times.
Van Dyke is an extreme example of a pattern of unnecessary deadly force used by U.S. police. American police kill , making them far more deadly than police in Europe.
Historic rates of fatal police shootings in Europe suggest that American police in 2014 were 18 times more lethal than Danish police and 100 times more lethal than Finnish police, plus they killed significantly more frequently than police in France, Sweden and other European countries.
As a scholar of sociology and criminal justice, I recently set out to understand 聽are so much higher than rates in Europe.
More Guns And Aggression
Such massive disparities defy a simple explanation, but America鈥檚 gun culture is clearly an important factor. , most states make it easy for adults to purchase handguns for self-defense and to keep them handy at nearly all times.
in the United States is not much harder. About to date were allegedly armed with actual, toy or replica guns. American police are . The specter of gun violence may make them prone to like cellphones and screwdrivers. It may make American policing more and . It also fosters police cultures that emphasize and aggression.
Americans armed with less-lethal weapons like knives 鈥 and even those known to be unarmed 鈥 are also more likely to be killed by police.
Less-lethal weapon holders make up only about in the US. Yet the rates of these deaths alone exceed total known deadly force rates in any European county.
Knife violence is a , yet British police have fatally shot since 2008 鈥 . By comparison, my calculations based on data compiled by and the Washington Post show that U.S. police have fatally shot more than 575 people allegedly wielding blades and other such weapons just in the years since 2013.
Racism helps explain why and are particularly vulnerable to police violence. Racism, along with a prevailing , helps explain why white citizens and legislators give so much support to and and so little to and .
Not Racism Alone
A German federal police officer in Berlin, November 24 2015.聽Fabrizio Bensch/REUTERS
But racism alone can鈥檛 explain why non-Latino white Americans are to die by police gunfire than Germans. And racism alone doesn鈥檛 explain why states like 鈥 where both perpetrators and victims of deadly force are almost always white 鈥 exhibit relatively high rates of police lethality.
An explanation may be found in a key distinguishing characteristic of American policing 鈥 its localism.
Each of America鈥檚 is responsible for screening applicants, imposing discipline and when a new weapon like Tasers are adopted. Some under-resourced departments may perform some of these critical tasks .
To make matters worse, cash-strapped local governments like may see tickets, fines, impounding fees and asset forfeitures as and push for more involuntary police encounters.
Dangers In Small Places
More than a quarter of deadly force victims were killed in towns with despite the fact that only 17% of the U.S. population lives in such towns.
By contrast, as a rule, towns and cities in Europe do not finance their own police forces. The municipal police that do exist are generally unarmed and lack arrest authority.
As a result, the only armed police forces that citizens routinely encounter in Europe are provincial (the counterpart to state police in the U.S.), regional (Swiss cantons) or national.
What鈥檚 more, centralized policing makes it possible to all armed officers according to the same use-of-force guidelines. It also facilitates the rapid translation of insights about deadly force prevention into .
In the United States, the only truly national deadly force behavioral mandates are set by the Supreme Court, which in 1989 deemed it constitutionally permissible for police to use deadly force when they . State laws regulating deadly force 鈥 in the 38 states where they exist 鈥 are almost always , or more so.
A Different Standard
Annual fatal police shootings per million residents. Data are based on most recent available. US: 2014; France: 1995-2000; Denmark: 1996-2006; Portugal: 1995-2005; Sweden: 1996-2006; Netherlands: 2013-2014; Norway: 1996-2006; Germany: 2012; Finland: 1996-2006; England & Wales: 2014.
By contrast, national standards in most European countries conform to the , which impels its 47 signatories to permit only deadly force that is 鈥渁bsolutely necessary鈥 to achieve a lawful purpose. Killings excused under America鈥檚 鈥渞easonable belief鈥 standards often violate Europe鈥檚 鈥渁bsolute necessity鈥 standards.
For example, the unfounded fear of Darren Wilson 鈥 the former Ferguson cop who fatally shot Michael Brown 鈥 that Brown would not have likely absolved him in Europe. Nor would officers鈥 fears of the screwdriver that a mentally ill Dallas man refused to drop.
In Europe, killing is considered unnecessary if alternatives exist. For example, national guidelines in Spain would have prescribed that Wilson incrementally pursue verbal warnings, warning shots, and shots at nonvital parts of the body before resorting to deadly force. Six shots would likely be deemed disproportionate to the threat that Brown, unarmed and wounded, allegedly posed.
In the US, require verbal warnings (when possible), while warning and leg shots are . In stark contrast, Finland and Norway require that police obtain permission from a superior officer, whenever possible, before shooting anyone.
Not only do centralized standards in Europe make it easier to restrict police behavior, but centralized training centers efficiently teach police officers how to avoid using deadly weapons.
The Netherlands, Norway and Finland, for example, require police to attend a national academy 鈥 a college for cops 鈥 for three years. In Norway, over recently competed for the 700 annual spots.
The Netherlands, Norway and Finland, for example, require police to attend a national academy – a college for cops – for three years … By contrast … U.S. police academies provided an average of 19 weeks of classroom instruction.
Three years affords police ample time to learn to better understand, communicate with and calm distraught individuals. By contrast, in 2006, U.S. police academies provided an average of .
Under such constraints, the average recruit in the United States spends of training in using force than in conflict de-escalation. Most states require of crisis intervention training.
Desperate and potentially dangerous people in Europe are, therefore, more likely than their American counterparts to encounter well-educated and restrained police officers.
However, explanations of elevated police lethality in the United States should focus on more than police policy and behavior. The charged encounters that give rise to American deadly force also result from weak gun controls, social and economic deprivation and injustice, inadequate mental health care and an intense desire to avoid harsh imprisonment.
Future research should examine not only whether American police behave differently but also whether more generous, supportive and therapeutic policies in Europe ensure that fewer people become desperate enough to summon, provoke or resist their less dangerous police.
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