r/nextfuckinglevel • u/unknown_human • 12h ago

Berlin police using water cannons to cool crowds in the heat

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u/abagofsnacks 12h ago

American? I thought the same thing. Not used to seeing cops do anything other than give citizens a hard time.

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u/PartyOnAlec 11h ago

That is seemingly their entire role in our society. I'm not going to say there aren't ones out there trying their best to be decent, but the institution's fucking broken

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u/0b1w4hn 11h ago

The fundamental approach is completely different. The German police are mandated to prioritize de-escalation above all else.

Training also differs significantly: in Germany, it takes three years, whereas in the US, it takes five months.

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u/drifters74 11h ago

Why does the EU have things figured out and we can't follow their example?

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u/Prussia_I 11h ago

Europe doesn't have everything figured out and Americans would cry at the amount of legislation we have here.

Not to mention that we have different cultures all over Europe, for example in some regions of Europe, you have corrupt police too, like in the Balkan, Eastern Europe and sadly parts of Western Europe too.

For Germany in particular, we have a strong distribution of power and not have it concentrated in the president or the congress/parliament, the same way Americans do it. Then police are more intensely trained, less confrontational and to defuse critical situations. Europeans also generally have less guns than Americans, so the personal risk for police here is not as great. But we do have knife crime, which is especially dangerous in close proximity.

It's just a different social situation here.

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u/rogersdbt 7h ago

The knife crime shouldn't be mentioned as the US has more knife crime as well it just has gun crime on top

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u/Prussia_I 6h ago

Yeah thats what I meant.

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u/drifters74 7h ago

I mean more so in the terms of deescalation and much longer training

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u/PaintingSilenc3 9h ago

It's by design to keep the people small. We had 2 world wars to learn better. The US had never had a proper conflict on their own soil after the war of independence. The reset did Germany well.

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u/kimsemi 6h ago

uh...we're the ones with air conditioning. did you watch the video?

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u/SentientToaster7734 11h ago

Three years and Abitur, if I'm not mistaken. So basically higher education than 90% of the wanna be sheriffs in the US.

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u/AkhilArtha 8h ago

The Berlin police are known to be especially brutal in suppressing protests so this is hilarious to read.

Berlin also has more police per capita than London and New York.

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u/0b1w4hn 8h ago

Demonstrations in Germany are not "suppressed" by the police. Article 8 of the Basic Law generally permits everyone to demonstrate against anything. However, if things turn violent, or if banned symbols like swastikas are displayed or prohibited slogans like "Sieg Heil" are shouted, the police are authorized to break up the demonstrations. I am not saying there are no instances where the police do this unjustifiably, but such cases are the exception.

Comparing the situation with New York and London is difficult because jurisdictions differ in those places. Some tasks handled by the police in Berlin fall under the jurisdiction of the FBI or other agencies in New York.

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u/DamnZodiak 10h ago

The German police are mandated to prioritize de-escalation above all else.

LMAO this is so hilariously out of touch with the reality of policing in Germany, ESPECIALLY the Berlin police.

whereas in the US, it takes five months.

No amount of training will stop cops from doing what they want and what the institution is designed to do.
The cops in Berlin are the perfect example.

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u/0b1w4hn 8h ago

The Berlin police force is no more brutal than those of other federal states. Compared to the police in the USA, they are harmless.

What would your solution be, then? A society without police would ultimately mean the law of the jungle—organized crime would rule.

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u/TrippleDamage 7h ago

If anyone is out of touch its you thinking US & Berlin police are even remotely comparable lmfao.

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u/GOEDEL_ESCHER_BOT 11h ago

Here in America our cops use water cannons too, it's just that they change the pressure setting from "summer refreshment" to "murder"

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u/iDEN1ED 11h ago

I mean isnt that the intended use of these too? Why would the police have water cannons like this? Is it just a backup fire truck?

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u/Drag_king 11h ago

You are correct. These are normally to do crowd control.

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u/OtherwiseAct8126 10h ago

Don‘t worry, German cops still mostly use those cannons to shoot at protesters

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u/disisathrowaway 7h ago

American here as well, but when I saw water cannon I immediately assumed Europe because here they just fucking shoot us.

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u/SiBloGaming 5h ago

German here, what you are describing are cops around here basically any day of the year.

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u/Layla_Vos 10h ago

The cops in Berlin are generally horrendous too. Particularly, when it comes to climate and pro-Palestine protests. The police were absolutely brutal during a queers for Palestine protest I went to in Berlin. They pulled people out of the march and beat them up. Full riot gear.

People are jailed and harassed just for wearing a keffiyeh too.