Recommended Best Practices
Recommendation 6.5 Promote crowd control tactics that are less likely to cause injury and set clear limits on the use of force.
Not all demonstrations are peaceful, and sometimes the best crowd management practices fail to pacify demonstrators who threaten public or officer safety. Even in violent situations, officers have techniques at their disposal to prevent isolated incidents from spiraling out of control. Specifically, departments should:
Ensure that all officers policing mass assemblies understand the rules of engagement, policies about the use of force, and procedures for mass arrest.As discussed above, leaders should prioritizedialogue, de-escalation, and the use of less aggressive, preventive forms of crowd management over weapons. Officers should use police formations (though they should notencircle or “kettle” demonstrators); traditional barricades (such as fences and concrete barriers);and nontraditional barricades (like riding bicycles), to create buffer zones and separate opposing groups of protestors.[i]Doing so will decrease the likelihood of physical confrontation. (For more detail, see Chapter 4.)
Address the use of force in the context of assemblies. When developing policies and training, department leaders should address the use of force in the context of public demonstrations as well as concerns with specific types of force, such as chemical deterrents, which cause pain and injury. Department leaders should prohibit the use of certain weapons (such as batons against non-aggressive participants and water cannons, canines, firearms, or shotguns) to disperse crowds during public gatherings. They should also require officers to warn people before they use force and limit the circumstances in which officers deploy force without prior authorization from commanders.[ii]
Leaders should also understand that nonlethal uses of force can escalate tensions, cause injury, and endanger members of the public as well as officers. Water cannons, which shoot pressurized water that is sometimes mixed with chemical agents or dye, can cause injuries and hypothermia (particularly in cold climates).[iii](For more detail, see Chapter 4.) These tools should not be used for crowd control purposes. In the past, officers used dogs to control crowds, which risks injury and induces fear and intimidation. Leaders should prohibit the use of dogs for this purpose in accordance with the model policy adopted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.[iv]
Develop clear policies to manage disorderly members of large, peaceful protests.The First Amendment precludes police officers from stopping legal protests in the absence of clear and imminent danger of a riot; substantial traffic interference on public roads; or an immediate threat to public safety and order.[v]But officers can remove people who engage in violence, vandalism, or dangerous or illegal behavior. When doing so, they should not “kettle” disruptive individuals[vi]or conduct mass arrests of nonviolent, nondestructive assemblers who commit minor offenses (e.g., jaywalking or littering). Focusing only on people who pose a threat allows the peaceful assembly to continue and decreases the likelihood of escalation.
To minimize harm, police should escort people away from the protest rather than restrain or confront them. The goal is to maintain a visible, nonthreatening police presence to deter unlawful action and to keep the crowd moving steadily toward its destination. The Miami Police Department has used a specialized bike patrol to achieve this goal — earning praise from the Police Executive Research Forum.[vii]
[i]SeeTony Narr, et al., Police Management of Mass Demonstrations: Identifying Issues and Successful Approaches, Police Executive Research Forum, 60 (2006), https://www.policeforum.org/assets/docs/Critical_Issues_Series/police%20management%20of%20mass%20demonstrations%20-%20identifying%20issues%20and%20successful%20approaches%202006.pdf;see also Martin Kaste, Police Struggle to Balance Public Safety with Free Speech During Protests, NPR(Aug. 26, 2017), http://www.npr.org/2017/08/26/546167516/police-struggle-to-balance-public-safety-with-free-speech-during-protests(“One tactic that is quickly catching on is separation. When opposing political groups converge on the same place, police now do what they can to keep the groups apart. When alt-right groups held a small rally on Boston Common last Saturday, police used barricades to create a large buffer zone between them and the thousands of protesters who showed up in opposition.”).
[ii]See Amensty International, Good Practice for Law Enforcement Officials Policing Demonstrations, July 26, 2016, https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/amnesty-international-usa-says-philadelphia-protests-appear-peaceful-still-gathering-information-on-citations/(follow “Background on best practices for law enforcement handling protests”link).
[iii]International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations, Physicians for Human Rights, Water Cannons, Crowd-Control Weapon Control, 1-2, https://s3.amazonaws.com/PHR_other/PHR_INCLO_Fact_Sheets_Water_Cannons.pdf.
[iv]Int’l Ass’n of Chiefs of Police, Model Policy: Crowd Management and Control 2 (Oct. 2014).
[v]See Jones v. Parmley, 465 F.3d 46, 56-58 (2d Cir. 2006) (citing Cantwell v. State of Conn., 310 U.S. 296, 308-09 (1940)); Cox v. State of La., 379 U.S. 536, 546-47, 549 n.12 (1965); Edwards v. S.C., 372 U.S. 229, 232, 237 (1963)).
[vi]Jamiles Lartey, St. Louis Police Condemned for ‘Alarming’ Attitude Towards Protesters, The Guardian (Sept. 19, 2017), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/19/st-louis-police-condemned-alarming-behavior; Joe Sterling, St. Louis Protest Police Accused of Controversial ‘Kettling’ Tactics, CNN (Sept. 19, 2017), https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/19/us/missouri-st-louis-kettling/index.html; ACLU Sues City of St. Louis over Police Conduct During Protests, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (Sept. 23, 2017), https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/aclu-sues-city-of-st-louis-over-police-conduct-during/article_325102fb-38c8-502b-867b-8e745c051ec5.html.
[vii]Tony Narr, et al., Police Management of Mass Demonstrations: Identifying Issues and Successful Approaches, Police Executive Research Forum, 45 (2006), https://www.policeforum.org/assets/docs/Critical_Issues_Series/police%20management%20of%20mass%20demonstrations%20-%20identifying%20issues%20and%20successful%20approaches%202006.pdf(2006) (“The Miami Police Department opted to organize a bicycle patrol to escort all major parades and rallies during the [Free Trade Area of the Americas] meeting week. Bicycle officers could not only provide a rapid response (unlike cars or vans that would be impeded by heavy vehicular and pedestrian traffic), but also present a nonthreatening image to protestors and the media.”).