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Watch some police documentaries from the UK - I'd recommend the BBC's "Traffic Cops" or Channel 4's "24 Hours in Police Custody". Even accounting for the prese

Watch some police documentaries from the UK - I'd recommend the BBC's "Traffic Cops" or Channel 4's "24 Hours in Police Custody". Even accounting for the presence of cameras, what's really striking is the politeness of British officers. The whole character of an interaction changes when it starts with a cheery "alright mate, do you know why I've pulled you over?" rather than "license and registration, keep your hands where I can see them". A confrontation starts long before a punch is thrown or a weapon is drawn. In the UK, there's a doctrine of verbal de-escalation and an acceptance of risk that just isn't there in the US. If you treat everyone you encounter as a deadly threat and escalate your response accordingly, it quickly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

mrestko 10y ago
Well there's this infamous interaction which is shown to most U.S. officers during their training: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOSELcrJ7Kw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOSELcrJ7Kw Admittedly, the officer starts the interaction with a command rather than a cheery, "aright mate," but I'm not certain that would have changed the outcome. The murderer later said during questioning that he killed the officer, "because he let me." There is a very different dynamic in the US with regard to authority compared to the UK. I do think that US police have become too militarized. In particular with regard to the military-style raids discussed in the original article. However, I'm not certain that US cops can simply assume the attitudes of British cops without wider cultural transformation in the country at large.