COURSES OF MOB ACTION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Describe some of the indiscriminate acts that might occur during a mob action, and list the factors that determine the degree of violence. Describe five incidents that a mob might take against a control force.

Regardless of the reason for violence, whether it is the result of spontaneous reactions or is deliberately incited, riotous actions can be extremely destructive. Such actions may consist of indiscriminate looting and burning, or open attacks on officials, buildings, and innocent passersby. Participants are limited in their actions only by their ingenuity, the training of their leaders, and the weapons, supplies, equipment, and materials available to them. The degree of violence will depend upon a number of factors, such as the type and number of people involved, location, cause of the disturbance, and weapons available. Certain types of violence can be anticipated. The control force must be familiar with and carefully trained in the proper actions to take when incidents such as the following occur:

Verbal abuse in the form of obscene remarks, taunts, ridicule, and jeers. The purpose of this tactic is to anger and demoralize civil disturbance control forces and cause them to take actions that later might be exploited as acts of brutality.

Groups of rioters venting their emotions upon individuals and unit formations. Personnel performing duty during a civil disorder might be beaten, injured, or killed. Vehicles might be overturned, set on fire, have their tires slashed, or be otherwise damaged. The same type of violence may be directed against personnel and equipment of fire departments and other public utilities.

Selective sniping or massed fire that may come from within the ranks of the rioters or from buildings or other adjacent cover. The weapons used will vary from homemade one-shot weapons to sophisticated automatic weapons.

Women children, and elderly people might be placed in the front ranks. This is done to play on the sympathy of the control forces and to discourage countermeasures. Where countermeasures are undertaken, agitators may have photographs taken to create further public animosity and embarrassment to the control forces.

l The crowd may construct barricades of vehicles, trees, furniture, fences, or any other material that may be in the vicinity. This is done to impede movement or in an attempt to prevent control forces from entering an area or buildings.

MANAGEMENT OF CIVIL DISTURBANCES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Describe five situations that apply to the management of civil disturbances. State the ultimate and interim objective in the management of civil disturbances, and list six elements that may make it necessary to seek an interim objective. Explain the importance of communications when dealing with a dissident element.

Civil disturbances have been thought of exclusively as riots. This concept has had a direct bearing on the planning, training, and operations of civilian and military control forces. However, the term civil disturbances, with its connotation of illegal activity, is sometimes used to include a broad range of confrontations that vary in intensity and purpose from a peaceful assembly in a public place to a violent and destructive attack on people and property. his broad range of activities requires that agencies develop responses based on the variable nature of the threat and provide for a high degree of flexibility and selectivity.

The past emphasis on the violent aspects has often resulted in control force responses that could, or did, aggravate rather than reduce the problem. Some demonstrations, such as picketing or marches, usually conducted as authorized by a permit, are legitimate forms of protest and generally should not be classed as disturbances. However, the possibility exists that a clique within the group of demonstrators, or factions not connected with the group, will take advantage of the opportunity to escalate the occasion to higher levels of disorder. Therefore, the management of a civil disturbance must be based on the peculiarities of each situation. These situations are as follows: 

l Mass demonstrations -involving hundreds or thousands of people, many of whom may be nonviolent and within their rights to protest, but because of their number can overwhelm the capabilities of law enforcement agencies.

. Civil disobedience -often involving elderly women, young females, and mothers with small children, as well as men whose nonviolent nature places the control forces in an awkward position.

l Idealistic protests - involving fanatically dedicated young participants for whom normal deterrents such as the threat of arrest or use of force has limited or no effect.

l Dispersed riots - involving many small groups of dissidents, many of whom are acting irrationally out of sheer frustration and bitterness. These groups may operate independently or in concert over a wide urban area, dispersing when threatened by control force operations, later reassembling elsewhere.

l ^{Terrorism -}involving extremely violent, often radical tactics, such as sniping and bombing attacks, which make conventional police operations extremely hazardous, and probably ineffective.

ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE

The military's ultimate objective in the management of civil disturbances is the restoration of law and order. Law and order is a relative term that can generally be equated to a state of normalcy in the community. This objective should include pursuing a course of action that contributes to the long-term maintenance of orderliness. Avoid control force action that accomplishes immediate control only at the price of increased social hostilities and potentially greater future violence.

INTERIM OBJECTIVE

In many civil disturbances, fill control cannot be attained immediately. The control force must reduce the intensity of the disturbance to the lowest level that can be realistically attained given all the conditions and variables influencing that particular situation. This interim objective is essentially a compromise. On the one hand, the control force must avoid attempting to impose a degree of control beyond its actual capabilities or through provocative measures of force. On the other hand, the control force must take effective action to attain an acceptable degree of security and the continued functioning of the threatened community. Elements that may influence or necessitate the decision to seek an interim objective are the following: 

. Magnitude of confrontation. The size or extent of many disturbances may make the enforcement of all laws impossible in affected areas.

Readiness of police. In the initial stages of a confrontation, the capability of control forces will be fairly limited pending the assembly of additional forces and the erection of field facilities.

Time of day. During certain hours of the day, large numbers of bystanders or hangers-on can be expected to be present at a confrontation, making their potential involvement an important factor.

Intensity of emotions. Where the emotional involvement of confrontation participants is at such a high point that any aggressive action could trigger greater violence.

Sympathies of public. Certain demonstrations or activities may attract the sympathy of a major segment of the community, thus making the actions of the control forces subject to very close scrutiny.

Strategy. In many confrontations, the demonstrator's goal is to produce an overly dramatic and violent police response, and the need to thwart that strategy is therefore a factor.

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATIONS

The primary factor that contributes to the reduction of intensities is the existence or establishment of communication between the control force leadership and the leadership of the dissident element. Such communication may be director through a third party.

The presence of communication enables the control force leadership to seek a reduction of dissident activity short of employing direct force. Communication also minimizes misconceptions of each party by the other, and reduces the possibility of improper or escalating responses by either party due to the misunderstandings of the intentions and capabilities of the other party.