"We'll have to live with it"

Your gun is a bit too loose for the police officers - you could get the impression in NRW recently. First, a police officer shot a youth in Dortmund. The shooter was suspended from duty, the public prosecutor's office is examining whether to expand the investigation (ie no longer for bodily harm resulting in death, but for manslaughter).

Then a policewoman in Bergisch Gladbach fatally injured a violent criminal. At almost the same time, officers near Kranenburg fired on a car, seriously injuring a passenger. And in Krefeld, an officer shot a rioter in the leg. At least five such acts by the NRW police became known within 14 days. How do you explain the increase in these cases of police violence? And what can be done to reduce shooting? Experts and politicians are debating this.

However, phrases such as “increasingly trigger-happy police officers” are circulating in the media and are misleading. The number of firearms used by police officers increased – from 1,390 in 2015 to 1,958 in 2021. But in a good 98 percent of these cases, the weapon was drawn because it was about defending against dangerous animals or killing injured animals. Just like in 2021, people were shot at only 12 times in 2015. Since 2015, 26 people have died, as the Ministry of the Interior announced on request. Contrary to what is often assumed, the number of shots fired at people has been at a fairly constant level for years.

A second finding is at least as remarkable: almost nobody called for the police officers' powers to be curtailed after the recent increase in shootings. The police have very far-reaching powers in the area of ​​"direct coercion", i.e. the use of force. It may injure those who are at risk or those who are fleeing, and even kill them under certain conditions.

But hardly anyone questioned that. From the CDU to the FDP to the SPD, everyone agreed in the view that SPD domestic politician Christina Kampmann put to this newspaper: “It is the job of the police to protect people. Police officers must be able to react to violent attacks and must not be defenseless. In this respect, the current legal powers are appropriate.” Even the Greens refrained from open criticism.

According to Erich Rettinghaus, the head of the German police union, there are good reasons for this: “The powers of the police are so differentiated and carefully formulated in the police law that they can hardly be abused,” he says in an interview with WELT AM SONNTAG. Police officers would always have to use the mildest means when using violence. "This means must always be suitable, necessary and proportionate". And what this formula from the police law means in concrete terms has been clarified over decades in increasingly detailed case law.

Nevertheless, 26 citizens killed since 2015 are a drama for which the police leadership is struggling to explain. Michael Schemke, inspector of the NRW police, identified one reason above all: the willingness to use violence against police officers.

In fact, the number of dangerous and serious injuries suffered by police officers is increasing. In a situation report by the LKA from 2020, 291 such cases were counted, in the situation report for 2022 there are 349. This increase could also be explained by knife attacks, police inspector Schemke believes. These attacks have only been systematically recorded since 2019. For 2020 and 2021 it is known that police officers were victims of such a crime in more than 50 cases. The number of all bladed weapon offenses in NRW is even in the thousands.

According to Schemke, a devastating trend is reflected here: "Even in the past, the police had to deal with people physically, but it was extremely rare for the other person to pull out a knife." It's different today. In fact, in the above-mentioned cases in Dortmund, Bergisch Gladbach and Krefeld, those who were shot always used a knife before the officers fired.

But "the police can usually only react to knife attacks with firearms," ​​say police experts such as FDP domestic politician Marc Lürbke. Schemke agrees: “In training and further education, the police officers are taught how to deal with knife attacks. Often the only possible response is to use a firearm. A knife attack usually doesn’t leave enough time to use a baton or pepper spray first.”

The problem of increasingly widespread knives has been present in politics for years. However, the parties consider a complete ban on knives in public to be almost impossible to enforce.

That is why more and more countries are declaring limited gun ban zones, as has been the case since the end of 2021 in the old town of Düsseldorf. It is too early to take stock. However, the zones have one catch: CS gas or pepper spray, which young women also use to arm themselves, are also prohibited there. This makes potential victims more defenseless. Therefore, no one considers these zones to be a panacea.

The FDP is hoping for the use of so-called tasers. If the entire police force were equipped with these electric shock guns, "some situations could be defused in which firearms would otherwise be used," says expert Lürbke. Studies in several countries suggest that stun gun attacks on police officers are reduced by 80 percent. A minority of the NRW police authorities have already been equipped with tasers.

In the new state government, however, the Greens stopped the CDU plan to equip all officials with tasers. However, it is unclear how effective the Taser is at deterring knife attackers. In the Dortmund case, police officers first pulled out two tasers – but this did not (to the best of our knowledge) persuade the perpetrator to put down his knife. Which is why police inspector Michael Schemke says that "in the future" one will "have to live with the fact that police officers shoot at people to avert acute danger to life and limb - unfortunately".