German police shoot 17 dead in 2025 as union demands Tasers

German police shot dead 17 people in 2025, well above the long-term average, leading to calls for officers to be equipped with of Tasers instead of firearms, reported dpa.

The figure was down from the record 25 fatalities recorded in the previous year but remained above average according to a tally by the Civil Rights & Police magazine at Humboldt University in Berlin.

The German Police Union (GdP) is convinced that equipping all officers with stun guns – also known as Tasers – could help reduce the number of people killed by police firearms in the future.

In some German states, including Bavaria, local police are now equipped with Tasers. Other state governments are following suit.

GdP chairman Jochen Kopelke hinted at a direct connection between the relatively high number of cases of fatal firearm use by police in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg last year and the fact that only special units are equipped with Tasers in the state.

"Where no or only limited 'non-lethal' means of intervention can be used, firearms are the only proportionate means," said Kopelke. "Where Tasers are more readily available to the police, the use of service weapons is reduced," he argued.

A Taser can deliver electric shocks from a short distance that usually incapacitate a person.

In October, the Bundestag - Germany's lower house of parliament - passed a legislative amendment allowing federal law enforcement officers to use "distance electric pulse devices" in addition to the usual batons and firearms.