Why can shotguns be used as standard equipment for police?

After World War II, police forces in various countries needed weapons that could suppress force, so shotguns became one of the standard equipment of police forces in various countries.

The large caliber shotgun can be used to fire all kinds of non-lethal ammunition, including bird bombs, wooden sticks, bean bags, tear gas, etc., and it can generate great muzzle kinetic energy. It can also be used to fire high-energy solid warheads with low initial velocity and large caliber, which can be used to destroy whole doors, windows, wooden boards or thin walls, so that police officers can quickly enter bandits' nests or hostage-taking places, thus becoming special forces of special police teams and even the military.

in the 196s, due to the development of plastic and paper shrapnel shells that can be easily retracted and reloaded, some models were changed to be similar to semi-automatic rifles and revolvers, some of them kept the pumping mechanism to adapt to different ammunition even with continuous firing capability, and some of them used unsupported structures or had foldable or telescopic stock.

in the 198s, a fully automatic shotgun with a detachable magazine was introduced, which was similar in appearance to an assault rifle. Later, new ammunition, such as cluster arrows and tungsten alloy projectiles, came out, which greatly improved the accuracy and penetration ability of the shotgun. In recent years, the new design is to imitate the traditional way of hanging Grenade launchers under rifles, so that shotguns and assault rifles can be integrated.