European LEO use of JHP Handgun Ammo?

[Eliakim]

Do European (or other advanced countries) police typically use JHP handgun ammo, or is high-quallity JHP handgun ammo for police an American convention?

It could be that the European criminals are generally better behaved than American criminals and don't need shooting but I doubt it.

Do European police forces generally use JHP's in their 9mm's?

[spdldr]

I don't know if any European departments use JHP rounds for their 9MMs. I do know though that from 1910 to at least 1960 they considered .32 auto FMJ to be perfectly adequate. In fact, the German army widely issued .32 autos to tankers and pilots during WWII.

Perhaps the American idea that bigger is better started to rub off on them in the 60s?

[Frens]

9mm FMJ is the standard issued round for italian LEO.
for civilians it's even illegal to use non-FMJ for self defense...

[novaDAK]

French Police, Speer Gold Dot 9mm.

http://atk.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=118&item=928

[Odd Job]

There is a halfway point also: a few years ago I was talking with an armed police officer here in London, on duty protecting a gunshot victim on an intensive care unit.
He had with him an MP5 and a G17. The ammunition was BAE truncated round nose (with exposed lead core).

[Jake'sDad]

There is a halfway point also: a few years ago I was talking with an armed police officer here in London, on duty protecting a gunshot victim on an intensive care unit.
He had with him an MP5 and a G17. The ammunition was BAE truncated round nose (with exposed lead core).

Yup. There have been a number of companies that have made non-hollow point expanding bullets for use by police agencies that couldn't, or wouldn't use hollow points. Even in this country, there were lots of agencies that stayed away from hollow points well into the transition to auto pistols.

My first issue load in 9mm was the Winchester 95 grain "Power Point" soft point. Didn't expand or feed, but we had to use it anyway. Pure silliness.

I'm kind of surprised the French didn't have Speer make them a non-hollow point Gold Dot.

[Neville]

Austrias police forces are issued a 100gr. softpoint, first from Hirtenberger now Fiocchi. Only the politician protecting elite squads can use JHP.

[dewatters]

I know that there are certain versions of the RUAG/Geco Action hollowpoints that are specifically designed not to expand beyond the outer diameter of the projectile. This was done at the request of certain European LE agencies attempting to compromise with politicians who don't want to be accused of authorizing ammunition that is not compliant with the Hague Accords. (If "dum dums" are too cruel to use during wartime, it is far more inhumane to use them outside of war.)

Other designs are based on the "energy dump" theory. In this case, certain human rights organizations have stipulated that the "loss" of X amount of energy in Y distance of penetration is a humane limit. Anything exceeding this limit is inhumane.

[DocGKR]

Asinine, idiotic, bureaucrats...

[C-grunt]

On my way back from the middle east in 03 we stopped in the Netherlands somewhere, I cant remember the country, to refuel.

We had two guards at the door out of the terminal that were armed with MP-5s. Got to talking with them and one showed us the ammo. It had a more rounded profile than a normal 9mm, almost like a 230 grn ball .45ACP. The tip was colored green and had a very small dimple on the tip that I guess would be considered a HP.

The two guards did say they trained out to 300 meters with the MP-5 and said they were pretty accurate at that range too.