New Directions in Protest Policing-Maguire · Michael Brown in Ferguson, ... The Task Force’s Recommendation 2.7 focused specifically on protests: “Law enforcement agencies should

New Directions in Protest Policing

Edward R. MaguireArizona State University

June 21, 2018Tucson, AZ

Road MapØ Introduction

Ø Protest Policing in the United StatesØ Basic Concepts and Principles

Ø New Directions in Protest Policing

Ø Applications in Higher Education


Protest Policing in the United States

• Brief history• Occupy• Ferguson• Charlottesville


Birmingham, Alabama (1963)

Birmingham, Alabama (1963)

Selma, Alabama (1965)

Democratic National Convention, Chicago (1968)

Four Presidential Commissions

Four Presidential Commissions examined the policing of protests and riots in the U.S. in the 1960s & early 1970s:

• Johnson Commission (1965)

• Kerner Commission (1967)

• Eisenhower Commission (1968)

• Scranton Commission (1970)


National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence (Eisenhower)

Its study of the 1968 DNC found:

“unrestrained and indiscriminate police violence on many occasions… often inflicted upon persons who had broken no law, disobeyed no order, made no threat. These included peaceful demonstrators, onlookers, and large numbers of residents who were simply passing through, or happened to live in, the areas where confrontations were occurring.


Eisenhower Commission…

Its study of the 1968 DNC found:

“…Newsmen and photographers were singled out for assault and their equipment deliberately damaged. Fundamental police training was ignored; and officers, when on the scene, were often unable to control their men.”


“a swift and massive commitment of prudent and well trained law enforcement personnel can usually extinguish a civil disorder in its incipiency.”

Eisenhower Commission…


Three Eras of Protest Policing

• Escalated force model

• Negotiated management model

• Strategic incapacitation model/ Command and control model/ Miami model



• Brief history• Occupy movement• Ferguson• Charlottesville


March

AP photo/Seth Wenig

Photo Source: Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian Occupy Portland

Photo Source: Brian Nguyen/The AggieOccupy UC-Davis

Photo Source: Jay Finneburgh, AP

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• Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen received a broken skull from a police beanbag round.

• An independent review noted systematic deficiencies in the police response to Occupy Oakland and concluded that the agency’s crowd control tactics were “outdated, dangerous, and ineffective.”

Photo Source: Joshua Trujillo/Associated Press

Occupy Seattle

Photo Source: Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News

Occupy Wall Street (NY)

Photo Source: Andrew Gombert/EPAOccupy Wall Street (NY)

“Unfortunately, the many instances in which police behaved in a professional, thoughtful, empathetic, and creative manner to facilitate peaceful First Amendment expression among Occupy protesters received much less attention.”

Maguire & Oakley, 2017




The shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014

St. Louis County Police “Overwatch”

M laden Antonov/AFP via Getty Im ages

“There’s… no excuse for police to use excessive force against peaceful protests, or to throw protestors in jail for lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights. And here, in the United States of America, police should not be bullying or arresting journalists who are just trying to do their jobs and report to the American people on what they see on the ground. Put simply, we all need to hold ourselves to a high standard, particularly those of us in positions of authority.”

-August 18, 2014

President Barack Obama responds


Other key events• In November 2014, the grand jury decided not to charge the

officer who shot Michael Brown

• Several other controversial police shootings of unarmed African Americans added fuel to the growing Black Lives Matter movement, prompting significant protests nationwide

• President Obama established the Task Force on 21st Century Policing in December 2014


The President’s Task Force report was released in May, 2015

A major focus on “procedural justice”


• Noted that protests and mass demonstrations “are occasions where evidence-based practices successfully applied can make the difference between a peaceful demonstration and a riot.”

• Called for police to implement “a layered response to mass demonstrations that prioritizes de-escalation and a guardian mindset.”

President’s Task Force


The Task Force’s Recommendation 2.7 focused specifically on protests:

“Law enforcement agencies should create policies and procedures for policing mass demonstrations that employ a continuum of managed tactical resources that are designed to minimize the appearance of a military operation and avoid using provocative tactics and equipment that undermine civilian trust.”

President’s Task Force…





Photo Source: New York Times

Charlottesville, VA (Aug. 12, 2017)

Photo Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images


Photo Source: Ryan M. Kelly / The Daily Progress via AP


“CPD devised a flawed Operational Plan for the Unite The Right rally… The plan did not ensure adequate separation between conflicting groups. Officers were not stationed along routes of ingress and egress to and from Emancipation Park but rather remained behind barricades in relatively empty zones within the park and around the Command Center. Officers were inadequately equipped to respond to disorders, and tactical gear was not accessible to officers when they needed it.”

Charlottesville, VA

March 2017June 21, 2018Tucson, AZ

Source: Hunton & Williams, 2017 (p. 5)

“…the City of Charlottesville protected neither free expression nor public safety on August 12. The City was unable to protect the right of free expression and facilitate the permit holder’s offensive speech. This represents a failure of one of government’s core functions – the protection of fundamental rights. Law enforcement also failed to maintain order and protect citizens from harm, injury, and death.”

Charlottesville, VA…

Source: Hunton & Williams, 2017 (p. 7)


“Local police were excoriated for appearing to stand by while violence raged around them in Virginia, but the crackdown some experts are predicting in the coming days could be just as dangerous. ‘No police department in the country is going to want to be accused of an under-response’ after Charlottesville, explained Dr. Edward Maguire, a criminologist at Arizona State and the author of a protest policing guidebook …”

Charlottesville, VA…

What Cops Should Do When Neo-Nazis Come to Town

-Vice News (Aug. 16, 2017)


Basic Concepts & Principles

• Constitutional Law• Procedural Justice & Legitimacy• Crowd Psychology


Constitutional Law

• The 1st Amendment serves as the primary legal foundation for protesters’ rights in the United States. It contains provisions to protect the freedom of speech and the right to assemble peacefully.

• Ill-advised protest policing methods violate the 1st Amendment. Police leaders should ensure that officers understand the 1st Amendment.


Constitutional Law…• 1st Amendment rights are not limitless. In traditional public forums

like parks and sidewalks, the government is permitted to place reasonable “time, place, and manner” restrictions on the exercise of these rights.

• These restrictions must be content-neutral and narrowly tailored and must serve a specific and significant government interest. They must also allow for alternative means of conveying the message to the intended audience.


Constitutional Law…• Civil rights lawsuits arising from police handling of protests often

also involve 4th and 14th Amendment challenges.

• 4th Amendment challenges tend to focus on allegations of false arrest or excessive force, while 14th Amendment challenges involve alleged violations of due process and equal protection rights.


Basic Concepts & Principles• Constitutional Law• Procedural Justice & Legitimacy• Crowd Psychology


Procedural Justice

Social psychologist Tom Tyler argues that a concept known as procedural justice has a powerful influence on why people comply with or defy law and legal authorities.


A logic model of procedural justice & legitimacy


Recent Research Findings• In Washington, DC, the most important factor influencing

people’s attitudes toward the use of violence against police was procedural justice.

• In New York City, the most important factor was having experienced or witnessed police using unjust force against protesters.

• Why the difference?


Fair and effective protest policing strategies aim to secure voluntary compliance without instigating a sense of defiance or rebellion among protesters.

Basic Concepts & Principles

• Constitutional Law• Procedural Justice & Legitimacy• Crowd Psychology


Crowd Psychology

• The classic model of crowd psychology is based on a “social contagion” perspective.

• The classic model is based on the idea that individuals in a crowd lose their personal identity or sense of self and consequently lose control over their own behavior.

• Modern crowd psychologists no longer subscribe to this perspective.


Crowd Psychology…• Modern perspectives on crowd psychology are based on the idea

of “social identity.”

• People’s social identities are based on the contexts in which they

are embedded and the groups with which they associate. Put differently, social identity focuses on how people are situated

relative to others.

• Why is this important?


Crowd Psychology…

• Crowds are heterogeneous and contain multiple subgroups, each with different norms and values.

• According to the “Elaborated Social Identity Model” (ESIM), in a crowd setting, people’s social identities can be heavily influenced by the behavior of outsiders such as the police.


Crowd Psychology…

• When police treat people in a crowd unfairly, even moderates can begin to embrace an anti-police sentiment.

• Implication: Never take enforcement action against an entire crowd based on the actions of a subset. Treat the crowd as heterogeneous and target those who are violent for arrest.


Crowd Psychology…

Winning the hearts and minds of the peaceful members of a crowd stimulates self-policing within the crowd. The moderates seek to keep the radicals in line.


New Directions in Protest Policing


A Four-Part Framework

•My recommended approach builds on a framework developed by crowd psychology experts.

• The framework has four components: education, facilitation, communication, and differentiation.


1. Education• Police must eedduuccaattee themselves about the social identities of the

various subgroups in a crowd, including their values, goals, and intentions.

• While police often gather criminal intelligence on protest participants with a history of violence or other criminal behavior, it is also important to gather information about other participants.

• Understanding the composition of a crowd enables police to develop more nuanced policing strategies.


2. Facilitation• When operating from the vantage point of how ttoo ffaacciilliittaattee

peaceful protests rather than how to control or regulate them, police can improve relationships with protesters and minimize the likelihood of conflict and violence.

• This is especially important when protests focus on the police, because efforts to block these protests will inevitably strengthen the perception that police are unjust or illegitimate.


3. Communication• CCoommmmuunniiccaattiioonn enables police to discover the aims of event

organizers and how best to facilitate these aims. It also enables police to learn about potential public order / public safety issues and try to prevent these issues together with event organizers.

• Even for more spontaneous events like flash protests or sports celebrations, police can usually identify informal organizers or influential participants with whom they can communicate.


Chief Chris Burbank, Salt Lake City

Superintendent Billy Evans, Boston

Major Jeff Estes, Charlotte-Mecklenberg

4. Differentiation

• In a ddiiffffeerreennttiiaatteedd approach to protests, police continue to facilitate peaceful expression even while taking enforcement action against those who are engaging in violence, property damage, or looting. This preserves police legitimacy and reduces defiance and rebellion.


Other Considerations

• Putting officers in riot gear prematurely can escalate violence. An alternative is to adopt a “ggrraaddeedd rreessppoonnssee” plan in which officers in riot gear are staged out of sight in a nearby location where they can be deployed quickly.

• Staging officers in riot gear in full view of a peaceful crowd may stimulate the very conflict it is intended to prevent.


Other Considerations• Imposing sanctions on the whole crowd based on the actions of a

subset triggers conflict. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in

which moderates align with more extreme or radical crowd members against the police.

• A better option: only take enforcement action against those whose

illegal conduct requires immediate attention while continuing to facilitate the rights of others to engage in peaceful protest.


Other Considerations

• The use of kettling, overly restrictive barriers, or other crowd containment methods should be avoided whenever possible.

• Reasonable containment measures are sometimes necessary to manage large crowds and preserve public safety; unreasonable containment measures can limit movement unnecessarily, endanger the crowd, violate civil rights, and trigger defiance.


2009 G-20 Summit in London

• Ian Tomlinson was a newspaper vendor trying to make his way home after work during London’s 2009 G-20 Summit.

• He died after a police officer struck him with a baton and shoved him.


Source: thetim es.co.uk

2017 Terrorist Attack in Stockholm


• An attacker stole a truck and drove it down a pedestrian street, injuring 14 people and killing 5.

• Barriers erected to prevent future attacks are insufficient.

Applications in Higher Education


2017 IACLEA Survey Results

• 44% said the number of protests on their campuses had increased in the past year.

• Only 40% had an MOU with local law enforcement agencies

• Only 6% had a mutual aid agreement with neighboring institutions

https://w w w.securitasinc.com /globalassets/us/files/know ledge-center/industry-challenge-securitas-2017-iaclea-sept-oct-2017.pdf


Response to Protests on UC Campuses, 2012

Sample Issue 1: Coordinating with university administration

“We…recommend that the Chancellor designate at least one administrator from the event response team to be present at demonstrations to facilitate the Administration’s involvement in decision-making at any time in which police action is imminent.”

http://campusprotestreport.universityofcalifornia.edu


Response to Protests on UC Campuses, 2012…

• Sample Issue 2: Mutual aid

• “While outside help is sometimes necessary, the presence of officers from other police departments during campus demonstrations creates a potential for problems. Police from other departments often bring with them different cultures, equipment, and training.”

• “… campus policing requires a specific skill set, sensitivity to campus populations, and a familiarity with academic values.”


Final thought:

What measures does your institution have in place to deal with mostly peaceful protests containing a handful of troublemakers intent on violence, vandalism, or other criminal offenses?

June 21, 2018

Thank you!

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.edmaguire.net

Twitter: @ermaguire

Tucson, AZ

Documents

New Directions in Protest Policing-Maguire · Michael Brown in Ferguson, ... The Task Force’s Recommendation 2.7 focused specifically on protests: “Law enforcement agencies should