I asked because the gendermerie in most of the listed countries ( Spain, France, Italy) is nominally a part of the military ( a military branch like the army, navy, etc.) but is run by the respective Ministry of the Interior, and has a different scope. And most of all, they aren't more heavily armed than the regular police ( maybe slightly more than municipal police officers in the places that have them, but in France i can't say there's a difference in day to day armament and etc. - the French Gendermerie have a rapid response team, and some heavier equipment for when required ( snipers, lightly armoured vehicles), unlike municipal police). So i object to the term `militarised police`, because it doesn't represent reality - gendermeries in France, Italy, Spain aren't more military-like than regular police. And the same goes for the gendermeries in Eastern Europe ( including OMON in Russia and some other ex-Soviet states) - they're trained for counter-terrorism, riot control, have nothing to do with the actual military, even nominally, and while they have slightly heavier weaponry than regular police ( lightly armoured vehicles, etc.), they don't do day-to-day policing ( and sometimes don't even have the jurisdiction for it), and are only involved when big things are happening ( massive protests or matches or w/e).

Furthermore, i object to the claim that they are somehow an issue in policing. The article you've linked says just "police", so i doubt they're talking about the Carabinieri. In France, the Gendermerie ( countryside and small towns and cities) has a better reputation with regards to violence than the Police Nationale ( which only operate in cities); i can't think of a single high-profile police violence incident where the Gendermerie were involved. And when the Police Nationale were protesting due to overworking and unpaid overtime, the Gendermerie were the ones providing protection. Apparently the Spanish Guardia Civil also has a better reputation than regular Spanish police. In recent years the French army has started doing patrols in mainland France, among potentially high-profile targets ( airports, train stations, tourist hot spots)

So if anything, having two different branches of police seems beneficial in those specific cases.

And neither type of gendermerie has anything close to the equipment the US police has.