Prof. Dr. Otto Adang, Author at Public Order Policing

Prof. Dr. Otto M.J. Adang is a behavioral scientist. He has held a chair in Public Order Management at the Police Academy of the Netherlands since 2004. Since 2016, he is also an associate professor in the field of “Security and Collective Behavior” at the University of Groningen. He has been conducting research in the field of public order since 1985 and has published over 180 papers, book chapters, books, and other publications on the topics of security, use of force, and maintenance of order in the following fields: social psychology, investigative psychology, social simulation, criminal justice, criminology, police research, human rights, sports science, ethology, and primatology in English, German, and Dutch. Translations have been made into Catalan, Norwegian, Ukrainian, Russian, Swedish, and Spanish.

Otto Adang is recognized far beyond the Netherlands as an international expert on major events, public order and crowd management, hooliganism, police use of force, and police and human rights. He has been involved in training, consulting and research related to police operations at soccer and protest events throughout Europe.

Chapter in Anthology:
How Collective Violence Emerges and Escalates

New article: Otto M J Adang, Bas Mali, Kim Vermeulen, A prospective Police Technology Assessment of the use of non-penetrating projectiles for public order maintenance and riot control, Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, Volume 17, 2023, paad076, https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paad076

The paper introduces Police Technology Assessment (PTA) to assess the feasibility of a new technology, in this case non-penetrating projectiles (NPPs) (both single- and multi-pellet) for public order maintenance. A PTA allows for a more complete and realistic assessment of the effects of less-lethal weapons than the medical and technical assessments that are usually applied. It assesses the socio-technical framework in which the weapons are to be positioned, including training, guidelines, and behaviour as well as individual and societal perceptions of the weapon within the complex interactions existing between these factors. The conclusion of the assessment is that implementation of NPPs for public order maintenance or riot control does not provide a realistic or effective potential use in line with the public order management concept in use in the Netherlands, whereas use of such projectiles would carry great risks, which include risks to the societal support for the way the police maintains public order.

Author: Prof. Dr. Otto Adang

Prof. Dr. Otto Adang

Non-penetrating projectiles for public order