Policing serious public disorder: the search for principles, policies and operational lessons. [In two volumes]

Abstract

The paper examines the influence of central government on the police response to serious public disorder; the effectiveness or otherwise of the law and the way in which it is used by the police in their response to such disorder, and searches for sone principles which need to be followed if the police are to maintain the general support of the communities in which they are required to act. Some comparisons are made, and differences highlighted, between the police commander in his response to serious public disorder, once it has broken out, and the military commander in battle. But, guided by lessons from history, the paper principally concentrates on the environment in which the operational police commander is required to act in responding to actual or potential serious public disorder, pointing out that he is dependant for his success on firstly, an effective system of command and control; secondly, on an intelligence system which feeds relevant and accurate information on which he can make sound and informed decisions; and thirdly, the physical resources, e.g. personnel and equipment, and the approved tactics which enable him to restore public tranquility once disorder has broken out. But before he can use the physical resources effectively, he must have a sound strategy for dealing with actual or potential disorder.

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