Background, June 7th, 2020. Like everybody else I have been glued to the tee vee as the protests unfold since the murder of George Floyd. I have been appalled by the lack of training and professionalism of the police departments around the country, and we get endless instant replays of improper use of force on protesters who are not a threat to the police. In the past I have spent time learning and teaching about de-escalation, situational awareness, and the like.
Recently, I have started to curate videos that sought to inform the public as the role of riot police. I made a youTube playlist. You can find it at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSXynKNP9Lj-RI5MAEvjZYJkA5JCcT8Gx
Book Review
I also decided to look for actual books on riot control, and I found this one. Here is the book review I wrote on Amazon.
If you would rather read it here without clicking, it is shared below in all it’s glory:
Let’s start off by saying this is a niche book.
Really.
IMPORTANT POINT: If you are a mayor or governor or staff policy expert, deploy your state’s National Guard early as opposed to late. The local P.D.s can not be relied upon to have had the kind of training to carry out the procedures, tactics and strategies shown in this book.
Now that we got that off our chest, this book is recommended for all persons interested in the study of communal violence (“rioting”). Obviously on the list are the civil authorities whose job is to prevent injury or loss of property while allowing peaceful demonstrations to occur. Less obvious would be the protesters themselves; and any attorney who would represent protesters harmed by police in riot control actions. Elected public officials need to learn what the training entails and what their own role may be in de-escalating emotions of mass gatherings.
The book is five chapters and covers
Operational Threats;
Control Force Planning and Tactics;
Equipment and Techniques;
Control Force Formations; and
Confinement Facilities. (i.e., special considerations when addressing prison riots and/or extracting an unwilling person from a solitary confinement cell, for which there are specialized teams in Federal and State prisons).
At the back is Appendix B, “Practical Applications,” an innocuous title for one of the truly informative sections of this book. It covers topics such as Negative Indicators of a Potential Civil Disturbance and Prevention of Crowd Escalation. If I were to find fault with this Handbook it would be that this section is not long enough. In the recent spate of protests, the police response in so many cities showed a lack of situational awareness and an inability to grasp a fluid situation. Future issues of this book ( or maybe future companions to this book) should consider more of an emphasis on case studies for the overall strategic commanders.
The book could use a chapter on how to utilize the geographic terrain of a city to deploy troops and shape the movement of crowds.
Because it is a government manual ( “handbook”) and represents the way that the riot control police in USA should be trained, it lays out a set of standards and best practices that serve as a contrast with the way the procedures are actually implemented. The disparity between the standards and the implementation is where a lot of civil suits arise. Due to the massive nationwide protests of May and June 2020 ( which are not over yet as of this writing) anybody with a tee vee has been able to watch riot control as if it is a strange variant on American football. At one level, it is just that.
The book integrates relevant points of law along the way and highlights some problem areas, such as how not to hold a police baton, and how to aim when firing a non-lethal baton round.
Chapter 4 is a bit confusing unless you study the key to symbols on the first page of the chapter, used in the many later diagrams. The chapter covers a variety of formations used to accomplish the dispersal of crowds as well as alternative ways to setup an extraction team in these various situations. This chapter reminds me of the kind of “playbook” used by college or professional football team inasmuch as it depicts the way you would set up the players prior to executing a pass play or a run play or a kickoff. These take time to study before you comprehend the value of each. The book could benefit from a companion DVD or YouTube Channel showing these various formations and tactical problems.
In short, the book is a niche book. It presents the way of thinking of the field commanders for a law enforcement agency. I would predict that it will be revised after we have all had time to stop and reflect. I am in hopes that police and National Guard units from across the USA will use this book and others, for future training so as to avoid the kind of errors they got into during the George Floyd protests.
CCNEPal 2020 