So, in classroom seminars and training demonstrations, the group of American leaders learned how the Scottish police outfit rank-and-file officers with batons, handcuffs and pepper spray — but no guns — and how the department’s elite armed response teams have shot civilians only twice in the last decade.

Here, officers who retreat are not considered “cowards,” as Pamela Davis, a chief in Anne Arundel, Md., said they would be considered back home.

Rather, the Scots define backward steps as “tactical withdrawal,” to slow the pace of a street confrontation. In fact, they have taken the American model of hostage negotiation, developed decades ago, and infused it into everyday patrols.

If armed people ratchet up emotions, the Scottish police seek to defuse them. They pay as much attention to moral standards as legal ones. They do not talk about “deadly” force and would shudder to see such words in their policies. Above all, a Scottish constable’s measure of success is whether everyone involved, not just the police officers, survives the confrontation.