2023-06-02 16:23:44
The German-American relationship is one of the best researched, most generously funded and most carefully cultivated in the network of transatlantic relations, says Police Councilor Sebastian Heinen. “Only when it comes to police work, we actually know very little regarding each other. Police work in Germany and the USA – that is still a black box.”
This might change soon. Recently, a small delegation of police officers from Germany immersed themselves in the world of American cops for a week in Atlanta, Georgia. Police officers from Atlanta were already guests at the German Police University (DHPol) in Münster last year.
The visits were organized by GILEE, Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange, a Georgia State University program for law enforcement officers in the US, Israel and the UK.
The participants can see, feel, smell and experience how police work is organized in other countries.
Robert Friedmann, criminologist and founding director of GILEE
“The idea of the program is an exchange at eye level and experimental learning on site,” says Robert Friedmann, criminologist and founding director of GILEE. “Participants can see, feel, smell, experience how policing is organized in other countries.”
There was ample opportunity for this in the most recent programme. The Germans learned how fragmented the US police force is – with 800,000 officers in 18,000 local, regional, state and federal police departments.
The delegation attended strategic and intelligence briefings from the Atlanta Police Department, Georgia’s largest police agency with a staffing of 2,000 officers. Visits to the operations control center and to the training grounds for the special units were also on the agenda.
De-escalation through technology?
“I’m impressed by how committed the police officers we meet here in the USA are to doing their job,” says Uwe Marquardt, Senior Police Director and Vice President of the German Police University – under conditions that are often tougher than in Germany , “high threat potential, high level of gun violence, lower pay”.
The German officers were also able to learn how the US police use technology – for more effective law enforcement, but also for personnel-saving operations and as a tool for de-escalation. De-escalation, whether through training or technology, has been a top priority for many law enforcement agencies in the United States for several years, with cases of excessive police violence making headlines time and time once more.
The police department in Brookhaven, a small town near Atlanta, introduced an innovative drone program in 2021. Drones are not only launched for reconnaissance in large-scale situations such as demonstrations or special operations such as hostage-taking, but also for normal emergency calls.
The advantage: the additional eye in the air gives the police officers on the ground a better picture of the situation – including potential dangers. At the same time, drone images can also give the all-clear, sometimes even making the dispatch of a patrol car superfluous.
Brookhaven has introduced another new technology: “Live911” offers patrol officers the opportunity to listen to emergency calls via live stream. This shortens the response time and gives police officers more comprehensive information before they arrive at the scene.
30
percent understaffed in US law enforcement agencies
In Germany, the use of the technologies in this form would hardly be possible, says Heinen, who is responsible for the training and further education of special units in North Rhine-Westphalia. The reason lies primarily in data protection regulations. But the examples reflected the fundamental difference between the two police systems.
German quality standards and American competition
“On the one hand, there is the German police with a focus on high, sometimes narrow, formal legal standards, a high degree of centralization and high quality standards,” says Heinen. And on the other side is the American system – “extremely decentralized, with a high level of competition and a high degree of local innovation.”
The German police officers were also surprised by the recruitment models used by their American colleagues. Especially since the protests once morest the police and police violence in the summer of 2020, the US police have had serious problems with recruiting new recruits.
Some authorities are up to 30 percent understaffed. Double layers are not uncommon; Authorities lure applicants with hiring bonuses or incentives such as personally assigned patrol cars.
Another difference lies in the training. In Germany, almost all police officers complete a three-year bachelor’s degree with theoretical and practical modules. Potential managers can later apply for a two-year master’s degree at the German Police University.
In the US, basic training in the police academy lasts an average of three months; a high school diploma is sufficient.
Although more and more police officers in the United States are aiming for a master’s degree, academic training for police officers is an area “in which Germany is clearly a pioneer and we still have a lot to do in the USA,” says Darin Schierbaum, the Atlanta Police Chief. The training of police officers deserves the same care and time as that of lawyers or pilots, he says – “if not even more”.
GILEE director Friedmann is confident that the first reconnaissance missions will result in robust contact between police forces from Germany and the USA – with research projects, exchanges of police officers and master’s students. Police officers from Germany and the USA might also obtain the expertise of their colleagues if necessary.
For example, when dealing with radical climate activists, who pose new challenges to emergency services in both countries. Or at the 2026 World Cup in the USA, where Atlanta is one of the venues. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there were to be joint training programs in preparation in the near future,” says Friedmann.
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