Crowd Management

Mental Preparation of Officers

A special need exists to prepare individuals for the mental and physical stress of civil disturbance control operations. Officers must be made aware of the influence of social/psychological factors upon their own behavior. The same human behavioral influences that work on the disorderly crowd can also influence officers. We counter this through training, discipline and preparation. In addition to these influences there are others that will affect officers in a riot/crowd management situation they are:

1. Individual response to stress

Officers engaged in civil disturbance operations will encounter the noise and confusion created by large numbers of people facing them. Individuals may shout at, insult, or call officers abusive names. Officers must learn to ignore these taunts and not allow personal feelings to interfere with the execution of their mission. In addition, officers can expect objects to be thrown at them, but must learn to avoid thrown objects by evasive movements. They must never throw the objects back. Officers must subdue their emotions and carry out their orders determinedly and professionally.

NOTE: Make a point that officers should understand that the well-disciplined execution of orders is the most effective force applied against rioters.

2. Psychological influences

Just as the crowd may be swept into violence by various psychological influences, the reaction of officers may be inappropriate because of the same factors. Both the law enforcement commanders and the officers must be aware of these factors so that they can cope with them in the civil disturbance environment.

1. The cumulative effect of these psychological factors may be an excessive response by officers who are often thrust into situations with little time to brief them about the situation.

2. The fatigue factor must also be taken into consideration in determining the ability of the control force personnel to deal with provocation. In situations where the control forces become extremely emotionally involved, the supervisors may lose control over the officer’s actions.

3. Emotional involvement - Officer focuses in on one demonstrator and targets this person for uses of force and/or arrest. Supervisors must be vigilant for such behavior and pull these officers off the line and put them in a support role, until they regain their composure – “a cooling off time.”

1. Estimating Crowd Size

NOTE: Show slide, “Estimating Crowd Size.”
The development of an accurate crowd estimate is an important part of demonstration control. Since the demonstration to some extent is a media event designed to call public attention to a cause or controversy, its success or failure may tend to be measured by the number of participants it was able to attract. Under these circumstances, widely divergent estimates of crowd size might be expected from sources either in support of or in opposition to the demonstration. Therefore, journalists turn to the police for professional, objective estimate of crowd size.
If the crowd estimate results in numbers that either exaggerate or belittle the demonstration, citizens may feel that the police are biased on the issue and have betrayed their professional objectivity.
Accurate crowd estimates are not difficult to produce--whether the method for producing the estimate relies on a single experienced observer or makes use of aerial reconnaissance and skilled photo interpreters, ultimately the process comes down to counting and multiplying within a set of reasonable variables.

1. The mobile crowd

An observer is stationed at a convenient location along the parade route. The numbers of persons in each of the first few ranks of the parade are counted as they pass in order to establish an average. The total number of ranks is then recorded as the parade passes. If the parade thins out toward the end, the number of persons per rank is adjusted accordingly.

Multiply the number of persons per rank by the total number of parade ranks to obtain the crowd estimate.
It is preferable to use two observers stationed at different positions along the parade route to obtain the crowd estimate. The two totals are compared and evaluated before an official figure is released.

2. The stationary crowd

Stationary crowd estimates are more difficult. Sometimes the geographic configuration of the meeting place can make the crowd appear to be larger or smaller. For example, a favorite spot for outdoor political speeches near the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. is a natural bowl, which requires viewers to assemble in ascending ranks on a grassy slope before the speaker. When televised from this perspective, crowds appear to be much larger and more impressive.

Estimating the stationary crowd is also basically a matter of counting and multiplying. When the crowd is relatively small, perhaps up to 1,000 persons, the estimator simply counts to some workable number like 50 persons, locks an imaginary frame around the space occupied by that number of persons, then proceeds to count the time that he can move that same imaginary frame over the entire crowd. Ten frames equal 500, and so on.
When the crowd is larger, it is preferable for the estimator to work with a fixed frame or fixed grid, in which the crowd is estimated relative to its density within that known space. The grid, for instance, might be projected as the size of a football field or a basketball court or the length of a city block.
Experience with these known space grids in various cities has produced some formulas for estimating crowd size relative to known density within the grid. For example, a densely packed crowd is one in which five persons occupy each square yard of space. A densely packed crowd occupying the length of a city street for one block will number approximately 10,000 persons. A loosely packed crowd, in which one person occupies each square yard, will fill up the same city street with just 2,000 persons.
The ideal means for observing and estimating large crowds within grids is by aerial reconnaissance, probably by helicopter. Observers positioned atop a building in the assembly area can approximate the accuracy of a helicopter observation. Lacking even that opportunity, a high ground or elevated position should be sought.
The figure shows estimates of crowd size relative to density within several known grids. It is good to have knowledge of the crowd size, to better determine resource needs and for the development of a tactical response to problems should they arise.
NOTE: Refer to handout, “Table for Crowd Size Estimation.” Ask if they have any questions on how to use the instrument.
When a large demonstration is expected and assembly ground has been set aside as a result of cooperative negotiation, measured grids can be marked in advance in such a way as to assist observation by helicopter or from some other vantage point.⁷

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