Protest & Riots

Some Background
History
 Empirical Data
 Social Scientists have studied many
protests and riots that have
happened in the U.S. and Europe
 This research and practical
experiences of the police community
have lead to new approaches in
policing protests and public disorders
 Protests/Demonstrations
 All kinds of issues cause protests
• Wars
• Animal rights
• Environmental concerns
• Economic deprivation
• Social injustices
• Globalization
• Disasters
• Etc. (you name it and it can cause it.)
Where in the world are we?
 What:
 Los Angeles Riots

 When:
 April 29 to May 4, 1992

 Why:
 Perceived Racial Injustice

 Toll:
 54 dead; 4,000 injured;
 12,000 arrested; 3,600 fires;
 1,100 buildings destroyed;
 $1.5 Billion in damages.
Iran
Burma
G 20
Cronulla Beach 2005 Australia
Ferguson
 Protests/ Demonstrations
 In the U.S. people have the right to
free speech and the right to lawfully
assemble

 In the U.S. and Europe less than

10% of protests involve violence
against persons or property
 Policing Public Protests
 Two basic approaches to policing
public protests
• Escalated force
 Confrontational
• Negotiated management
 Non-confrontational
 Escalated Force Model
 Used to control protests before 1970
 Police used a confrontational approach
 Limited or no meetings between police
and protest organizers
 Permits usually not issued for protests
 Force used to stop and disperse protests
 Only riot police used to deal with the
protestors
 Many arrests were made
Negotiated Management Model
 Non-confrontational approach
 Emphasizes prevention and
accommodation
 Meetings held where the locations,
times, routes, etc. are negotiated
with organizers
 Closer communication and co-
operation between police and
organizers
• Before and during the event
 Negotiated Management
 Minimum use of force to control a
situation
 Reduced tendency to make arrests
• Ignore low level violations/crimes
 Retaining a readiness to deal with
potential or actual public disorder
• “Iron fist in the velvet glove”
• “Two hat” (soft hat & hard hat)
approach
 “Iron Fist in the Velvet Glove”
 Crowd only sees the “caring” cop in
their regular uniform (Velvet Glove)
• Bike and foot officers
 Riot police are geared up (“kitted
up”) and ready to go and staged out
of sight (Iron Fist)
• To avoid unnecessarily provoking the
crowd
 Negotiated Management
 Works well with people willing to
meet and cooperate with police
 Does not work with anarchists or
radical groups who refuse to
negotiate with police
 Does not work for a spontaneous
public disorder/riot
 Negotiated Management
 Model or approach used by most
police agencies in the U.S., U.K., and
many other European countries
 Takes a lot of pre-planning,
organizing, and patience on the part
of law enforcement
 For a large protest it takes a lot of
resources which include regular and
riot equipped officers
Questions?
U.S. Riots
 What were the most destructive
riots in U.S. History?
 Anti-Draft Riots
• During the American Civil War
• Happened in New York City
• Armed mobs
 looted
 set fires
 shot blacks, policemen, and federal troops
 over 1,000 people killed or wounded
 Contemporary U.S. Riots
 Types of Recent Riots
• Celebration riots
• Commodity riots
• Communal riots
• Hybrid – Commodity/Communal
• Police Riots
 Celebration riots
 Most frequent type of riots in U.S.
 Young people partying in the streets
 Lots of drinking and drug use
 Usually related to sporting event victories
 Oakland, CA
 Boston, MA
 Tucson, AZ
 Los Angeles, CA
 East Lansing, MI
 Denver, CO
 Chicago, IL
 Vancouver, BC
 Commodity riots
 Most violence occurs against
property rather than persons
 Vandalism
 Looting
 Arson
Examples:
 Mount Pleasant Riot, Washington, DC, May
1991
 Cincinnati, Ohio Riot, April 2001
• Both started after officers shot a suspect
 Communal riots
Violence against persons
 Usually involves violence between:
• Rival racial, ethnic, religious, or language
communities
 Many occurred during the 1800s, early
1900s, and again around 1943
 Not very frequent any more in the U.S.
• Crown Heights riot, New York City, August 1991
 Jews vs. Blacks

 Occurs today more frequently in Asia,

Africa, Europe, & Mid-East
Hybrid – Commodity/Communal
Los Angeles Riot, April 1992
 Started by anger toward government
(justice system)
 Several “flashpoints” or “precipitating
incidents”
 Commodity aspect
• Arson, looting, vandalism
 Communal aspect
• Different racial groups attacking each other
 Police Riots
 Extensive violence by police
personnel against civilians
 Civilians then abandoned without
arrest
 Officers proceed to engage in
violence against other civilians
 Examples:
• 1968 Democratic Convention – Chicago
• May Day 2007 – Los Angeles
• Some civil rights marches – 1960s
Questions?
 Crowd Behavior
 Many of today’s views on crowd
behavior are based on stereotypes
that grew out of academia over a
century ago. Writings by:
• Gustave LeBon - 1895
• Robert Park – 1904 and 1930
• Herbert Blumer - 1939
 Crowd Behavior

 Stereotypes
• The belief that crowds are unified
masses whose behaviors can be
categorized as
 Active
 Expressive
 Acquisitive
 Hostile
 Crowd Behavior

 Stereotypes – continued
• Crowd participants were given to
spontaneity, irrationality, loss of self-
control, and a sense of anonymity
 Other scholars proposed that crowds
do what they do because of their:
• lower class
• criminal or riff-raff composition
 Crowd Behavior
 Empirical data gathered by today’s social
scientists has found that
• Crowds are not homogeneous entities – all
participants are not the same
• Crowds are not made up of isolated
individuals, but of “companion clusters”, which
arrive, remain and leave together
• Crowd participants
 Are not unanimous in motives
 Many groups are anonymous to one another (not all)
 Seldom act in unison and if they do, it does not last
long
Crowd Behavior - Continued
• Crowds are not given to unique emotional
displays
• Crowds do not cripple individual cognition
• Crowds are not uniquely distinguished by
violence or disorderly actions
• Social, political, and economic factors are not
consistent predictors of riot intensity or
individual participation
• Individual attitudes and personality
characteristics are poor indicators of riot
participation
 The Crowd: A Process – Not An
Entity
 The Assembling Process - beginning
 The Temporary Gathering – middle
• The actual demonstration or march
 The Dispersing Process - end
 Riots
 Generally there is some singular, (or
more often) a chain of event(s) that
lead up to a riot.
 A World in Protest
current locations of protest in recent history

 Russia  Iran
 Greece  Syria
 India  Thailand
 Chile  Mexico
 France  Haiti
 Chile  Washington DC
 Iraq  Ukraine
Levels Of Disturbance
and Crowd Demeanor
Compliant
Passive resistance
Active resistance
Violent
Lethal
Levels of control
Mere presence
Verbal Requests
•Physical control
Pepper spray (1040.00)
Baton (1030.00)
Custody’s
 Impact Munitions
 FN303
 Pepper ball gun (Not PPB)
 Bean Bag Gun
 Sting Balls
 Sage Gun (Not PPB currently)
 37mm or 40mmGrenade launcher –
rubber bullets
Chemical agents (635.10)
 The Players

 From the Right wing

 From the Left wing

 Everyone in between

 Anyone with an agenda

 The Environment
Know why your there and what it is about

 Sporting Event
 May Day – labor march
 Anti-police march
 Disaster
 Racial or political unrest
 Social Factors effecting the crowd
Know who the players are and their causes

 Leadership
 Moral beliefs - abortion
 Energy of Crowd
 anonymity
 Panic
• Danger close at hand
• Limited escape routes
• Chemical agents deployed
 Control force – social factors
Know your limitations and weaknesses

 Leadership
 Level of training
 Moral beliefs / prejudices
 Energy of Crowd
 Anonymity
 Us vs. Them
 Panic
• Danger close at hand
• Limited escape routes
Tactics of the Crowd – Non-violent
Why they do what they do
 Embarrass the police
 Weaken the line - Diversions
 Deplete resources – mass arrests
 Swarming
 Trespassing
 Passive resistance
 Women and children in front
 Precursors to violence or change in
crowd demeanor
 Masking up
Sleeping
Thick clothing


dragons, tripods,
 Extra padding water balloons,
 Phone # on the fruit baskets,
arm squirt bottles,
 Backpacks/bags marbles,
 Clumping fireworks,
projectiles
 Large signs
 Shields
Signs can help determine Attitude and
demeanor of crowd
Direct Action Devices
Tripods
Sleeping
Dragon
Sleeping Dragons
Sleeping Dragons
 Other Devices
 U lock, bicycle locks
 Snow Fencing
 Marbles
 Fireworks
 Hydrofluoric acid
 Water Bottles w/ rocks
 Super soakers - water guns
Tactics of the Crowd – Violent
 Projectiles
 Clubs – signs
 Shields / Helmets
 APR’s – gas masks
 Fireworks
 Fluids – Hydrofluoric Acid, urine,
 Armor
 Direct action Devices
 Firearms
 Training

Camps
 Professionalism / discipline
 Cameras
• Police
• Crowd
• News
 Neutrality
 Team vs. individual
 Discipline / self control
 Manage vs. control
•Cameras
•Solo action not allowed.
Lack of Resources…
 Your objectives in this mess
 Protect Targets
 Restore Order
 Looter Suppression
 Crowd Control Divert (channel,
route)
• Block
• Disperse
• Contain / Isolate
• Arrest
 Withdrawal / Do Nothing
Tools of our
Trade
 Personnel

 Bicycles
 Mobile Field Forces

 Rapid Response Team

 Horses
 Impact Munitions
 FN303
 Pepper ball gun
 Bean Bag Gun
 Sting Balls
 Sage Gun
 37mm Grenade launcher –
rubber bullets/baton
 Chemical Munitions
 OC –
• Pepper Spray
• Vapor - Grenades
 Smoke – Grenades, Launchable
 CS Gas – Grenades, Launchable
 We do not use CN Gas
 Basic Squad Formation

9 7 5 3 2 4 6 8

L G

S A
Sgt
 Basic Platoon Formation

9 7 5 3 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 2 4 6 8

L G L G
S A S A
Basic Wedge Formation

3 2

5 4

7 S 6

L G
9 8
A
Basic Echelon Formation

2
3
4
5
6
L

S 7
A
8
G
9
Management tactics
Echelon
 Basic Platoon Formation

9 7 5 3 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 2 4 6 8

L G L G
S A S A
Protect Food Distribution Points
Protect Supply ingress points
Provide order for medical triage areas
Control ports
Maintain order in supply areas
Maintain order in Transportation Hubs
Looter Suppression
Maintain order in refugee camps
Establish civil control
Maintain order in shelters
The End