U.S. Police Officers Turn to Scottish Cops to Show Them How to Stop Killing Civilians

Officers from multiple U.S. cities spent time with Scottish law enforcement officials to rethink the use of deadly force.

February 3, 2016

In 10 years, the Scottish police killed only two people, while American police killed around 1,300 just last year. Of course, the populations of the two countries are nowhere near the same, with the U.S. coming in at around 300 million compared to Scotland's five million. Still, preventing the deaths of armed and unarmed civilians is a a real concern in this country.

Several American police chiefs visited Scotland to witness and participate in training drills to help rethink the use of deadly force. Chuck Wexler, a former hostage negotiator with the Boston police department, had this to say about being confronted by a suspect with a rock:

U.K. outlet Sky News followed officers from New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and other U.S. cities for four days to produce a documentary that recently aired. Hopefully this experience will create change here in the States, so we can stop wondering when the next unarmed civilian will die at the hands of someone who is supposed to be protecting us.