Assistant Director Jason J. Kepp shows the importance of protecting law enforcement officers when disorder occurs. A properly trained and protected officer will be better able to make critical decisions during intense situations. The author elaborates on the necessity of specific Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for public order policing and discusses the importance of standards and training. The specifics and interdependencies of distinct PPE, including impact protection, gloves and boots, outer garments, and eye, hearing, and respiratory protection are discussed. Kepp concludes by emphasizing the role of law enforcement leaders, who must balance avoiding the perception of expecting disorder with being prepared to respond to it (by wearing PPE), while constantly assessing the need for personnel protection.
Captain Spencer Fomby states that public order policing is one of the most complex areas of modern policing and requires specialized training and expertise. When police intervene in a protest event, the focus is often on the use of force. While police in the other western countries have invested considerable resources to improving public order policing, American police agencies have long neglected this specialty. By summarizing historical trends and current challenges, Fomby provides an overview of the current use of force landscape in American public order policing. Case study and real-world examples are offered as guidance for police leaders to develop effective use of force capabilities that conform with best practices, legal restrictions, and model policies.
Assistant Director Jason J. Kepp notes that public order policing is a critical aspect of law enforcement, tasked with maintaining peace and safety during protests and other public events. To effectively execute their duties, police officers require specialized training that equips them with the necessary skills and knowledge. However, not all training programs are created equal, and evidence-based training is increasingly becoming the go-to approach for public order policing. Kepp shows why evidence-based training for public order policing helps improve officer safety and reduce the risk of injuries to officers and civilians. When officers are well-trained and equipped to handle public order situations, they are more likely to act professionally and appropriately, earning the respect and trust of the public. As the demands of public order policing continue to evolve, evidence-based training will remain a fundamental approach to ensure officers are equipped to meet these challenges.
Deputy Inspector Anthony J. Raganella, Sergeant Jose M. Vega, and Lieutenant Peter Davidov emphasize the importance of established policing standards for public order tactics, equipment, and training. The existence of these standards, or lack thereof, has a profound impact upon police legitimacy and public trust in democratic societies. The authors explore how well-defined public order standards keep both citizens and officers safe and promote positive incident outcomes. Using examples and case studies, the authors demonstrate how public order standards influence law enforcement policy development and minimize risk to officer safety, as well as agency liability and credibility, thereby furthering police-public trust. They discuss why professionalization and specialization of public order policing matters, especially in countries such as the U.S., where standards do not currently exist.
Director Carsten Schenk and Major Michael Bornhausen examine the importance of operational communication in assemblies using a case study of the operation at Dannenröder Forst, a forest area to be cleared for a highway expansion. They first explore emerging demands on police communication resulting from the use of social media in during protests. Subsequently, the importance of Tactical Communication in operations is highlighted through various theoretical approaches and practical examples. They present goals, applications, and methods of Tactical Communication. The authors conclude with challenges that arise in, what they refer to as, the context of “protest 2.0,” including effectively understanding and executing mission communication.
Drs. Jens Grutzpalk and Stefan Jarolimek explain that police do not operate in a vacuum, but function within a media public. This public is difficult to understand, consisting of confusing echo chambers, fake news, journalism, social media, and rapid attention economies. Police are obliged to simultaneously explain their own actions and reinforce the public’s sense of security through the media. This mix becomes a challenge for the police, especially in assembly situations, when there are real-time media disputes about situations and their interpretation. The authors advise police public relations, from a German perspective, on how to position themselves within this media situation.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Loren (Renn) Cannon summarizes key research and reviews the fundamentals of the intelligence cycle to provide police leaders with useful frameworks and tools. Cannon shows how officers can lawfully develop crucial intelligence and effectively incorporate this knowledge into all stages and aspects of public order policing operations. Through a case study and real-world illustrations of successful public order intelligence efforts, Cannon provides contextually based and tangible examples to help practitioners develop and integrate public order policing intelligence.
Chief (ret.) Ryan Lee argues that most public order policing practitioners focus on the immediacy of maintaining order within a physical space but fail to evaluate the role of legitimacy, narrative space, and the impacts of the information age. The author examines these issues, along with the evolving sophistication of criminal protesters and how they leverage communication. Lee concludes with strategies and tactics to help public order professionals navigate new and challenging protest dynamics and environments.
Commissaire divisionnaire Christian Ghirlanda describes the challenges posed by the Yellow Vest protests for both the police and for democracy itself and explains how various stakeholders in France have attempted to overcome these challenges. He analyzes the characteristics of this new form of protest. Ghirlanda concludes by emphasizing the importance of continuous development and further education of the police profession to successfully adapt to and manage this new type of protest in an evolving liberal democratic society.
Deputy Chief Eli Cory provides insight into the events that unfolded on January 6th at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. from the viewpoint of a Public Order Commander on the ground. Cory explains the state of law enforcement in the United States before this event, considering the social contexts, peculiarities regarding jurisdiction, training, and equipment developments. Cory describes January 6th from his point of view; how events unfolded, the decisions made, and emotional aspects of the operation. The author concludes with lessons learned regarding training, equipment, and communication.
Officer Michiel Rovers and Dr. Tom van Hamdescribe public order management from a Dutch military police perspective. They briefly reflect on collective violence theory and the role of the Royal Marechaussee (gendarmerie type military police of the Dutch Armed Forces) in maintaining public order in a civil environment. They discuss the units’ characteristics, their deployment, and challenges. The authors highlight the policies developed to handle public order events. Furthermore, they identify military units’ challenges in establishing public order in a hostile, post-conflict environment and underline the necessity of international cooperation – not only between military units, but between all units deployed at public order events. Using the Dutch experience, the authors seek to inspire further discussion and to encourage the use of common language to describe crowd-related dynamics.
Dr. Bernd Bürger shows how the Unterstützungskommandos (USK), full-time public order units specializing in evidence gathering and arrests during assemblies, have evolved over recent decades. Bürger describes events that accompanied and triggered these developments and shows how, after it became an organizational goal, community focused policing served as the foundation for operational tactics, as well as personnel selection, development, and training.
Chief Superintendent Claire Clark highlights the principles of public order policing in the United Kingdom and reviews relevant legislation and guidelines. She explains the system of public order public safety policing, focusing on the tasks of the overall strategic commander, referred to as Gold, and demonstrates the operationalization of public order policing concepts using several examples and case studies.
Dr. Jaclyn M. Keane and Deputy Inspector Anthony J. Raganella build upon previous chapters by focusing on legal issues associated with public order policing. They discuss the constitutional foundation of free speech and assemblies and related policing limitations and challenges. After considering the relationship between crowds and police, they use a London Metropolitan Police (Met) example to show how specific decisions (and possible alternatives) generated long-term negative effects on the Met’s relationship with their community. The authors conclude with a discussion of police legitimacy, specifically highlighting the concept of “policing with consent” and the importance of balancing the legal equilibrium.
by Dr. Bernd Bürger, Brigadier Gerd Thielmann, Captain Alan Hanson and Commander Craig Dobson seek to show how differences in society, law, standards, and education influence the policing of public order and common policing approaches. The first chapter, “Differences in U.S. and German Police Organizations with an Impact on the Policing of Public Assemblies,” explains differences between Germany and the U.S. that are relevant to policing assemblies. Police institutions and regulations can be understood only if situated within a broader context (e.g., form of government, societal characteristics, and historical events), as contextual influences impact police structures and activities. The appendix offers a glossary to explain specific police terms and foster understanding of technical jargon used throughout this book.
In “Police Organization and the Policing of Assemblies in Germany” and the subsequent chapter, “…the United States”, the authors highlight aspects of German and U.S. police organizations and standards associated with policing assemblies or large-scale events. A fictitious case study is used to illustrate how an assembly might be policed. Both chapters provide a brief overview of cross-border police collaboration for assemblies and other gatherings.
Pastor Werner Schiewek highlights the importance of assemblies for a thriving democracy. As a democratic virtue, assemblies should not be prevented, but, in fact, facilitated. However, assemblies are associated with individual, social, and moral risks for all participants, and Schiewek describes these risks. To help mitigate risk associated with assemblies, Schiewek analyzes the moral expectations of police, including internal and external expectations, and the tensions between them. Awareness of these challenges can help police organizations better prepare officers. Schiewek also offers suggestions for personal and organizational planning grounded in different ethical approaches and the four classical cardinal virtues.
Senior officer Udo Behrendes and Dr. Bernd Bürger highlight the conclusions of experts in the mid-1980s. Experts found that the policing of assemblies did not consistently integrate past operational experience into current operational planning, thus those experiences were continually lost and needed to be acquired anew. This includes assessments of the psychological effects of police tactics on those assembled and the larger public. The authors argue that contemporary experts would discover similar findings. They offer examples of historic police approaches that eased tensions in assembly conflict situations and identify related de-escalation tactics and training supported by scientific evidence.
Chris Schattka examines the origins of violence during the so-called “Welcome to Hell” demonstration, which took place during the 2017 G20 summit in Hamburg. Violence is explained by building upon evidence-based concepts, including mass, identity, and emotion. These concepts are each used to analyze unfolding events at demonstrations, but they vary in their inclusion and emphasis on reciprocal dynamics between police and crowd behaviors. Schattka argues that an “interpretative regime” supporting the use of violence developed prior to the Hamburg demonstration, among both police and demonstrators, and this perspective contributed to the outbreak of violence. Interpretive regimes supporting violence are grounded in shared experiences. They arise when the parties involved accuse each other intending to use violence, which justifies and increases the likelihood of their own violent behavior. During the “Welcome to Hell” demonstration, these interpretive regimes persisted until the day of the event and influenced how police and demonstrators interpreted the actions of each other during the demonstration.
Drs. Otto Adang and Martina Schreiber link theory to public order management practices. They offer an evidence-based model for understanding the initiation and escalation of collective violence developed from systematic observations of mass gatherings where violence occurred (or was anticipated). They describe associated strategic principles, used successfully in several countries, for policing mass events.
Gerd Thielmann has 44 years of experience as a police officer, including 28 years as a senior officer. He started his career as a patrol officer, before he became an investigator. Later he was the head of a crime scene investigation team, he also completed the education to become a certified forensic expert. As a senior officer, he worked as a lecturer of police operations and leadership science at the Police University for Applied Sciences. Afterwards, he worked at the strategic level in the Ministry of the Interior, where he was responsible for the training and further education of the 20,000 employees of the Hesse Police. He intensified his practical leadership experience as head of various units, including two years as Deputy Head of European Union Police Mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Head of the Northern Hesse Police Department with approx. 1800 officers. As the Head of the Police Leadership Science Faculty at the German Police University (GPU), he also worked scientifically. The last three years in his police career, he served as Vice President of the GPU. For the last 8 years he has been working as an international consultant for Police Leadership and Academic Education in the North-Africa and Middle East region for various international organizations such as CEPOL (EU-Agency for Law Enforcement Training), OSCE, GIZ (German Society for international Cooperation), and FRONTEX (EU-Agency for Border- and Coast Guard). Currently he is a consultant at Naif Arab University for Security Science in Riyadh/KSA, an institution of the Arab League.
Dr. Martina Schreiber, graduate psychologist. After studying in Constance, Glasgow and Bonn, she was involved in the evaluation of police measures at UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal as a staff member of the University of Liverpool. Back in Europe, she became a research associate and member of the Public Order Expert Panel of the Netherlands Police Academy. Her research work included the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the UEFA Euro 2008 Austria/Switzerland, numerous soccer matches and demonstrations in Europe. 2010 PhD at Jacobs University Bremen on ‘Group relations at crowd-events’. Publications in peer reviewed journals and textbooks, presentations at congresses, conferences, seminars of fan-, human rights organizations, ministries and police organizations. Her special commitment is the scientific monitoring of collegial consultation processes and organizational learning in police agencies. She has been a counsellor and therapist (CBT) since 2017.
Werner Schiewek is a State Police Pastor who studied Protestant theology at the University of Hamburg and at the Westphalian Wilhelms University at Münster (WWU). Since 2001, he has served as a Pastor in the State Parish Office for Church Service in the Police of the Protestant Churches of Westphalia (EKvW) and as a police ethics lecturer of the Council of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) at the German Police University (DHPol) in Münster, located in the federal state North Rhine-Westphalia. In addition to his practice as a police chaplain, his teaching and research interests include applied ethics (professional and organizational ethics) with a special focus on ethical issues involving state security agencies (police and military).
Director Carsten Schenk studied psychology before working as an operational psychologist in the Central Police Psychological Service of the Hessian Police (ZPD). Schenk is responsible for developing tactical and operational communication approaches for mass events/assemblies. He advised police leadership on communication during the ongoing large-scale operation for the further construction of the federal freeway A49. Today, he is Psychology Director and head of the ZPD’s Operations Support, consisting of the Behavioral Analysis Competence Center dealing with Threat Management and Criminal Psychological Investigation Support as well as the Communication and Crisis Management Competence Center with, among others, Operations / Crisis Communication / De-escalation, Negotiation Management, Psychosocial Crisis Management / Operations Section Support, Officers Crisis Support, as well as Acting and Deciding in Critical Situations.
Chris Schattka is a sociologist and PhD candidate at Bielefeld University and was previously a researcher at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research. He studied sociology at the Bielefeld University and the Swedish Umeå University. As part of his dissertation, he has been conducting research on digital self-representation practices in violent situations. His recent research focuses on methodological problems of violence research and the sociology of interaction.
Michiel Rovers graduated from the Royal Netherlands Military Academy in 2006 as an army officer. In 2013 he transferred to the Royal Marechaussee and was deployed on several international and national public order and security related missions. He combined his tactical experience with existing strategic (NATO) concepts which resulted in the development of the (NLD) Doctrine Publication 19-56: Stability Policing in Land operations.
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