Incidents of Police Injuries During Recent Arrests
Criminals Also Lose Their Lives Due to Live Ammunition
Recently, following a series of incidents in which police officers were injured while subduing suspects or criminals lost their lives due to live ammunition, the German government is moving forward with a plan to equip the Federal Police?who are responsible for border areas and train stations?with tasers (electroshock weapons).
According to local media Funke Mediengruppe on June 8 (local time), German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt stated in an interview, "Tasers are the perfect equipment to bridge the gap between close-range tools like batons and long-range weapons like pistols." He added that the necessary legal amendments to introduce tasers would be completed within this year.
Police officers attempting to block the entrance to the underground parking lot of the Federal Parliament in Berlin, Germany. This photo is for illustrative purposes and is unrelated to the content. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News
In Germany, some state police forces are already using tasers, but the Federal Police, who are in charge of high-risk areas such as train stations, currently subdue suspects with batons, pepper spray, and pistols. Some have opposed the use of tasers, arguing that they can be fatal to people with cardiovascular diseases or pregnant women.
However, the government began considering the introduction of tasers after a series of recent incidents in which police officers were injured during subduing operations and criminals lost their lives due to live ammunition. The police have also requested to be equipped with tasers, aiming to reduce casualties and eliminate the controversy that arises every time firearms are used. In April, in Oldenburg, northwestern Germany, police shot a fleeing man in his twenties four times in the back, resulting in his death and sparking criticism for excessive force.
On May 23, a stabbing rampage occurred at Hamburg Central Station, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Federal Police, injuring 18 people. Andreas Roßkopf, head of the Federal Police Union, said that pilot use of tasers at some train stations showed that merely displaying the weapon was effective in calming situations.
On the evening of the previous day, a woman estimated to be in her thirties stabbed two pedestrians with a knife in downtown Munich and fled, but was shot dead by police. On the same night in Berlin, a Slovenian man in his forties stabbed two people after purchasing a knife at a supermarket. Around the same time in Hanover, a 34-year-old man parked a burning Mercedes-Benz at a gas station, took out an axe, and smashed the windows of a responding police patrol car. The Hanover fire authorities and police special forces prevented the fire from spreading to the fuel pumps and subdued the suspect using a taser.
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