Recommended Best Practices
Recommendation 6.3 Engage in cooperative and strategic advance planning.
Although it is impossible to create standard operating procedures for every possible type of assembly, departments’ overall philosophy should, as the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., states, “be one of moderation, flexibility and controlled response.”[i]
As noted above, the First Amendment allows some regulation of public assemblies. Most jurisdictions require permits for parades, marches, demonstrations, public speeches, and the like. Permits for these types of events are usually approved by municipal officials, though sometimes this responsibility falls to police.
In either case, and to the extent possible, police departments should hold formal meetings with event organizers and/or protesters as early as possible to determine where the event will occur and what is permitted. This process is often more difficult when demonstrations are organized on social media, which are rarely led by a single, identifiable leader (and which often identify all participants as leaders).
In these situations, officers should not expect organizers to present a single leader; rather, they should remain flexible and consider using social media to communicate. Department leaders should keep community leaders informed about and included in the planning process. Officers’ relationships with community members are valuable and should be leveraged when preparing for “leaderless” or spontaneous demonstrations.
Communication duringa demonstration is equally important. Officers should establish a media strategy that includes social and news media so they can maintain contact with event organizers, disseminate accurate information to the public, and correct false information during and after events.
In 2016, the Atlanta Police Department successfully managed a major protest organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Black Lives Matter over police shootings of Black men in Minnesota and Louisiana. Although the event drew thousands of protestors and took place the day after a sniper ambushed police officers in Dallas, it resulted in only three arrests and no reports of violence. Notably, all officers stationed at the protests were in regular uniforms, not riot gear.
The NAACP described police presence during the event as “exemplary,” and a department police major emphasized the value of advance planning and “to know and be in dialog with community groups when there are not times of tension.”[ii]
[ii]Dan Klepal, NAACP: Atlanta Police ‘Exemplary’ During Protests, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (July 9. 2016), https://www.myajc.com/news/local/naacp-atlanta-police-exemplary-during-protests/OKVniB5z83ApG3yY9XfISI/(quoting Atlanta Police Maj. Darin Schierbaum).