Implementation of procedures for crowd control tactics are very important for police and law enforcement agencies.. In such cases, law enforcement agencies are forced to use various means of .dispersing the crowd, the main of which are: tear gas, water cannons, melee weapons, physical pressure, etc.
Crowd Control Tactics For Riot Control Agents
Tear gas.
Sprayed from special grenades or special devices. The main task is to demoralize the crowd and force each person to seek shelter. It is an effective way to break up demonstrations, because the action of tear gas causes severe eye pain, the inability to see clearly and orient yourself, makes breathing difficult. For most crowd members, these symptoms are the first sign that they must leave the territory. If you find yourself in a crowd whose tear gas is used to disperse, you must close your eyes tightly or protect them, for example, with tight-fitting glasses, cover your airway with a scarf or other cloth moistened with water. Getting out of the collision zone, wash open areas of the body, eyes and face with clean water, shake out or wash clothes, rinse the mouth and nasopharynx.
Water cannon is a relative new and effective means to disperse the crowd. Heavy machinery drives close to a crowd of people and directs a stream of special water cannon into it. A person receives a serious dynamic blow, as a result of which he loses the ability to resist. Moreover, in wet clothes it is quite difficult to continue the protest.
If you find yourself in a crowd when using a water jet, you must avoid direct contact with the water jet and look for ways to retreat.
Melee weapons (police batons, rubber bullets, stun guns , etc.) – used by law enforcement agencies in cases of total unrest and when other, more peaceful ways, with the crowd can not cope. Law enforcement agencies are forced to use means of physical destruction in relation to the most aggressive and unmanaged instigators and participants of mass riots.
If you find yourself in a crowd at the time of a direct clash between the participants in the disorder and law enforcement agencies, try not to panic and not to get hit by direct blows. Do not show aggression and do not become an object that demonstrates active resistance, raise your hands up, showing that you do not belong to the organizers or the instigators, and you happen to be in a crowd for some reason.
Mass riots are always a place of particular emotional intensity, a situation when any feelings and conflicts are repeatedly exacerbated. Nevertheless, even in such a situation one should remember the main thing – one’s own security. Unfortunately, the herd instinct very often weakens the basic instinct of self-preservation, which easily leads to tragedy.
Therefore, a person caught in such a situation should adhere to the following rules.
- Try not to be one of the unwitting participants in the riots. If the number of people increases, the mood in the crowd becomes massive – it is necessary to leave the territory and retire to a safe distance.
- Caught in an uncontrollable crowd, you must try to remain calm, do not panic. It is advisable to find like-minded people who, just like you, found themselves in an accumulation of people not on their own will. Together to leave the territory will be much easier than alone.
- If you could not get out, do not give your inner impulses to prevail over common sense. Before you commit any act, weigh the possible risks. It is necessary to be ready for any development of events, because even a peaceful march can turn into aggressive resistance.
- Try not to respond to provocations and not try to provoke others. In such circumstances, the slightest conflict can escalate into tragedy. A significant part of the participants are not at all ardent admirers of any idea, but simply people with a chronic lack of sharp impressions, but under the influence of emotions, even those who wanted to “just see” can be a source of danger.
- Be careful with opinions and sayings. The situation in any mass protest may change before our eyes.
- It is necessary to assess the situation in relation to the terrain. Stay closer to convenient paths of retreat and, accordingly, away from the epicenter of the crowd.
- If active actions have begun, try not to rise above the crowd, cover your head with your hands or another object from accidental hits of various objects. If resistance to law enforcement agencies begins, do not show aggression, if possible, contact the police. Leave dangerous territory immediately.
The basic rule of salvation during mass riots V.M. Gubanov defines as the preservation of the individuality, dignity of the individual, and the non-control of the distraught crowd. Otherwise, a person has little chance of survival, since he completely merges with the crowd and depends on the factors of probability, luck, chance 11].
