Poison gas used against Berlin police

[Cohaagen]

Originally Posted by Skybird

CS is different, i know from first hand experience

Yeah, I know too. I was sprayed during the 2005 G8 protests in Edinburgh, despite the fact that I was working for the local police force at the time as support staff. A lot of the Met cops - bussed in from London to beef up the numbers - seemed to be enjoyed themselves a bit too much.

A policeman's health and life is not worth much these days anymore. And it'S getting worse and worse.

No, it isn't. Policemen are paid more than firefighters, infantry soldiers, deep-sea fishermen (of which I am one), oil rig roughnecks, journalists, etc., all of whom suffer a far higher occupational mortality rate. They also have excellent employee benefits and good union represenation EU-wide, not to mention veneration by much of the press.

I'm not a German resident, but I've been to Germany many times (Fallingbostel mainly) and spent many, many months there, and the only time I've seen any street trouble it was caused by British squaddies or their relatives/visitors. Generally people were far more civic-minded than in the UK, and more socially responsible. It is far from doom-and-gloom.

Some years ago, the boss of the police in New York was guest in Berlin, that was after he had brought down the crime rate very significantly by several factors, by a policy that even small crimes got hunted down uncompromised thta before got ignored since they were called "too minor". Germans listend, and ignored it completely. "Too tough", some politicians said, but "too expensive" was what all were thinking.

Ah yes, the famous "zero-tolerance" scheme.

A braided chimp in a Sam Browne and army-surplus helmet could have brought down the crime level in New York at that point. It was totally out of control. However, putting people in jail for five years for pissing in a mailbox is not an effective use of resources - it's tough guy posturing.