It's not quite that bad. That US 6 month number excludes field training (typically 1 year) whereas the 2-3 year German number includes it (6 months I believe).

It's not quite that bad. That US 6 month number excludes field training (typically 1 year) whereas the 2-3 year German number includes it (6 months I believe). This largely stems from a difference in how academies work. In many countries, field training is required to graduate. In the US, field training is required after you graduate in order to get a permanent job. This skews the total training time numbers. That said, American police are still undertrained by comparison.