Public order

INTERVIEW: Ahead of this week’s London Policing College workshop on policing public protest in Germany, keynote speaker Dr Bernd Bürger of the Bavarian Police Institute of Further Education spoke to Policing Insight’s Keith Potter about the importance of communication and negotiation in handling demonstrations, the need for officers and commanders to have expertise and experience, and the benefits of establishing full-time public order policing units.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of next week’s London Policing College workshop on policing public order, workshop chair Roger Gomm QPM (a former Metropolitan Police operational commander) talked to Policing Insight about the challenges officers face when policing protests, and the dilemma of balancing the rights of protestors and the wider public.

FEATURE: A Long-Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) was used by ACT officers in Canberra last week as part of the policing operation dealing with vaccine mandate protests, prompting a range of concerns and claims about the damage done by the device; composer, artist and sonic expert Lawrence English, a Research Fellow at Queensland’s Griffith University, explains the workings and limitations of LRADs.

OPINION: Policing protests during Covid is proving challenging for many forces, and the anti-vaxxers and others who have gathered at New Zealand’s parliament grounds in Wellington have been difficult to dislodge; Monash University Criminology Lecturer Dr Ross Hendy, a former NZ Police sergeant, believes that while the waiting game may not be the ideal response politically, it could be the safest route to a peaceful resolution.

ANALYSIS: Australia has a lengthy and costly 40-year history of providing assistance to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force, but the offer recently accepted by the Islands’ Government of officers and equipment from China has raised some strategic concerns; Gordon Peake and Dr Graeme Smith of the Australian National University explore the Australian Federal Police’s capacity-building efforts to date, as well as China’s moves to extend their policing reach in the Pacific.

OPINION: Québec is currently experiencing its second province-wide pandemic curfew, introduced at the end of December in response to the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant; but for Brandon University’s Professor Christopher Schneider, the new restrictions bring with them a dangerous expansion in police discretionary powers that could lead to the inconsistent and unfair application of enforcement.

OPINION: A proposed pilot scheme to allow football fans to drink alcohol in view of the pitch during some lower league games has been branded “irresponsible” by some senior police officers; but former Chief Superintendent and crowd policing specialist Owen West, now a Senior Lecturer at Edge Hill University, believes the “unevidenced” policing narrative lacks coherency, and could leave the service marginalised as reform of the sport moves forward.

OPINION: Operations by police and security teams to clear homeless encampments around the city of Toronto have been defended as an attempt to ensure the safety of occupants and the general public; however, Professor Joe Hermer of the University of Toronto argues that not only is this untrue, but it also represents a betrayal by police and the mayor, who had previously pledged to listen to and build a relationship with the city’s most marginalised and vulnerable people.

OPINION: Serious public disorder has been a regular feature of news bulletins in recent weeks, from Bristol and Clapham Common to Belfast and Ballymena; public order expert and former chief superintendent Owen West believes a lack of clarity over coronavirus regulation has been a major factor – and if unresolved, could lead to a summer of potentially violent unrest.

FEATURE: Forty years ago this month, rioting erupted in Brixton – and later in 1981 across the country – leading to one of the most significant inquiries into policing in the UK; in the first of a two-part feature, Dr Wendy Laverick of Hull University and Professor Peter Joyce of Wrexham Glyndŵr University explore the context and key recommendations for police reform from the Scarman report.

OPINION: Events that occurred on London’s Clapham Common last weekend received widespread international media coverage, much of which has focused on the nature of policing and querying its appropriateness; Professor Peter Joyce and Dr Wendy Laverick examine some of the key issues regarding the manner in which the event was managed by the Metropolitan Police Service.

Opinion: In the second of two articles exploring the current spotlight on policing protests, public order specialist and former chief superintendent Owen West assesses the latest HMICFRS report on the issue, and questions the lack of focus on resources, liaison and leadership, as well as the political timing of the publication.

ANALYSIS: The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021 announced by the Government last week looks set to change the nature of protests in the UK, while also placing a greater onus on police to consider the noise and disruption impact of public assemblies, says public order specialist and former Chief Superintendent Owen West.

INNOVATION: Recent serious public disorder in Brussels, and the much-covered riots in Washington DC, highlighted the dangers facing police when they are overwhelmed by unexpected public violence; a new virtual reality platform providing immersive simulation of real-world public places could offer police and security agencies the best possible preparation for such events, reports Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth.

OPINION: Coverage of protesters storming the Capitol Building in Washington DC was watched around the world, with many questioning the ease with which rioters gained entry to the heart of federal government; Tom Nolan, Associate Professor of Sociology at Emmanuel College, Boston, believes the events of the day will be viewed by many experts as ‘an international embarrassment for American law enforcement’.