Functions and Impact of the ‘Violence Against The Police’ Discourse on German Police Culture

Abstract

The background of the violence against the police debate is an estrangement between police and society. Furthermore the police have not enough professional knowledge on how to deal with people in exhausted conditions respectively in social and/or economic poverty apart from using force. Though, since they are not familiar with the sub-cultural rules of live and communication, it makes it difficult for them to handle the part of the population which is troubled. The second important effect of this development is that, in the shadow of the ‘violence-against-police’ debate, violent acts committed by police officers apparently seem to grow.