You're missing my point, I'm not talking groups of armed criminals, I'm talking groups of armed people. In the US anybody could be armed, not just criminals. So

You're missing my point, I'm not talking groups of armed criminals, I'm talking groups of armed people. In the US anybody could be armed, not just criminals. So even when meeting with regular citizens they need to be prepared to be up against people with guns. In most European countries only criminals have guns, so cops responding to regular people have a lot less to be afraid of. So when US Police is up against a group of non-criminal protestors, there's a much bigger chance of somebody with a firearm doing something stupid than in Western Europe. Because of this it doesn't surprise me that US cops don't just carry batons.