U.S. flag
      An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.
        Here's how you know
      Here's how you know**Official websites use .gov**
            
            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
      **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
            
            A **lock** (
            A locked padlock
            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Menu

      
        close

            
            
                                              About NIJ
        
                    
  
          About NIJ
      
    
          The NIJ Director
          How NIJ Is Organized
          Mission and Guiding Principles
          Research and Development Process
          Strategic Framework
          Assessments of NIJ
          Annual Reports & Reports to Congress
          Staff Directory
          Funding & Awards
        
                    
  
          Funding & Awards
      
    
          Current Funding
          Forthcoming Funding
          Expired Funding
          Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
          Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
          Fellowship & Student Programs
          Travel Scholarships
          NIJ Challenge Program
          Library & Multimedia
        
                    
  
          Library & Multimedia
      
    
          NIJ Journal
          Podcasts
          Publications Listing
          Multimedia Listing
          Rated Practices on CrimeSolutions
          Rated Programs on CrimeSolutions
          Software & Databases
          Datasets
          Patents
          Topics
        
                    
  
          Topics
      
    
          Article Listing
          Corrections
          Courts
          Crime Prevention
          Crimes
          Drugs and Crime
          Equipment and Technology
          Forensic Sciences
          Youth Justice
          Justice System Reform
          Law Enforcement
          Tribal Crime and Justice
          Victims of Crime
          Events
        
                    
  
          Events
      
    
          NIJ 2024 Research Conference
          Scheduled Events
          On-Demand Events
          Research Meetings & Workshops
          NIJ-Hosted Online Training

                            
                                About
          Contact Us
          Subscribe
          Topics A-Z
                  Share
FacebookXLinkedInRedditPinterestEmail Home
 Research and Law Enforcement Partnerships Manage Civil Disturbances More Effectively

August 2, 2019
Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy
See reuse policy
Series
                  Research Spotlight
Speakers
        Dr. Tamara Herold, Associate Professor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas;               Ryan Lee, Assistant Chief, Portland Police Bureau
Law enforcement agencies can use research-based practices to manage protests and civil disturbances more effectively. In this video, Dr. Tamara Herold, Associate Professor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Ryan Lee, Assistant Chief, Portland Police Bureau, discuss some of those methods, some of the misconceptions about how law enforcement should respond to civil disturbances, and where agencies should begin when developing civil disturbance response plans.

Dr. Herold and Chief Lee participated in the NIJ-sponsored panel “Keeping Protests Peaceful: What Works and What Matters to Prevent and Respond to Civil Disturbances,” at the 2018 IACP Conference.
  
  
          Transcript
DR. TAMARA HEROLD: Research shows that for police to keep protests peaceful, we really need to adhere to a set of pretty well-defined principles. And those principles are grounded in science that shows that people when they feel as though their freedoms have been threatened, their behavioral freedoms, they’re likely to react in a way that can be volatile or violent. However, when we’re policing protests we have to sometimes have to restrict freedoms in order to keep people safe. And so, when police must engage in that type of behavior, it’s really important the way they go about restricting behavioral freedoms. And so research shows that, de-escalation tactics, methods of disarming and defusing volatile situations, knowing how to do that is critical in order to maintain peace at protests.

RYAN LEE: The approach in Portland reflects the research in that we try to make our efforts as police to manage the event as transparent as possible. We’re communicating before the event. We’re communicating during the event. We’re communicating after the event. If some sort of enforcement action or some sort of restriction on liberties has to occur, we try and communicate out exactly why and we try and communicate who in the crowd is behaving in a manner that’s necessitating that act. We try and facilitate those that don’t wish to engage in that same type of behavior to still be able to exercise their freedoms and liberties as appropriate.

I think one of the fundamental misunderstandings of how police are responding to protests are that we are really seeing the events that become contentious. In America, we value free speech. Frequently, people are exercising their first amendment rights. Frequently, people are protesting and there is little to no conflict with law enforcement. What they focus on is when the conflict does occur. And I think what’s important to help manage that risk for any law enforcement official, for any government official, is to really embrace an idea that they’re there to be leaders in their community, not people that are there trying to coerce or get people to comply with laws. If we recognize that the role of police in society is to help lead people towards civilized interactions and we try to guide them towards those principles and find ways to encourage them to self-select that behavior, we’ll be better off.

DR. TAMARA HEROLD: I think the chief really summarized very well what it is that creates misperceptions on the part of the public. And I think the other side of that might be misperceptions on the part of practitioners about what’s appropriate in different context and under different circumstances. And so what we’ve seen is that when there’s an overreliance on uses of force or demonstrations of authority, this is where the police tend to get in trouble. And where the misperception is that’s the right way to manage a crowd, where really that’s the right way to manage a crowd only under particular conditions. But there are a variety of different crowd management techniques that should be used under different circumstances in order to effectively manage these crowds.

And for those agencies that don’t yet have a plan to manage protests, I think the most important thing they can do is learn from their peers and learn what other agencies have done. And we consider those best practices and also to turn to the academic literature, and review some of the science in this area that tells us what’s effective when and in what context.

RYAN LEE: The first place they should start is to have a discussion amongst their command staff about how they want to respond. To take a look at their community and then to reach out to other agencies that have had same or similar problems. Unfortunately, the reality in a publicly and politically active environment, such as the United States, is that a protest is only a matter of when, not if. And so, police agencies need to be prepared as appropriate for the size of their community to be able to help manage and mitigate those risks.

I think one of the key lessons and key takeaways that we should have from this dialogue that we’re starting, is that we really need to look towards a national level of professionalization and standardization towards our approaches. We need to engage our academic partners and we need to really message forward that the intent is to manage, not control and to communicate with both our government leaders as well as the citizens we serve.
    
  
Disclaimer:
              Opinions or points of view expressed in these recordings represent those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Any commercial products and manufacturers discussed in these recordings are presented for informational purposes only and do not constitute product approval or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Justice.
  
Date Published: August 2, 2019
    
          Side navigation
  

        

  
  
              NIJ Journal
    
      
            
            
            
      Podcasts
    
      
            
            
            
      Publications Listing
    
      
            
            
            
      Multimedia Listing
    
      
            
            
            
      Rated Practices on CrimeSolutions
    
      
            
            
            
      Rated Programs on CrimeSolutions
    
      
            
            
            
      Software & Databases
    
      
            
            
            
      Datasets
    
      
            
            
            
      PatentsTrauma in Schools - Roundtable Discussion, NIJ Virtual Conference on School Safety
                  Impact of COVID-19 on School Safety Research - Roundtable Discussion, NIJ Virtual Conference on School Safety
                  Tragedy to Transformation: Preventing School Violence with Proven Programs - Plenary Presentation, NIJ Virtual Conference on School Safety
 Top

      National Institute of Justice

        
        
                        About NIJ
                    About NIJ
      
    
                  How NIJ Is Organized
      
    
                  NIJ Director
      
    
                  Research Disclaimer
      
    
                  Funding & Awards
                    Funding & Awards Home
      
    
                  Awards Listing
      
    
                  Current Funding
      
    
                  Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
      
    
                  Resources
                    Events
      
    
                  Podcasts
      
    
                  Publications
      
    
                  Topics
      
    
                  Multimedia
      
    
                  Reuse Policy
      
    
                  Contacts
                    Contact NIJ
      
    
                  Staff Directory
      
    
                  Submit a FOIA Request
      
    
                  File a Civil Rights ComplaintFacebook
          
                      X
          
                      YouTube
  

      810 7th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20531
      
              Secondary Footer link menu
            Accessibility
              Plain Language
              Privacy Policy
              Legal Policies and Disclaimer
              No FEAR Act
              Freedom of Information Act
              USA.gov
              Justice.gov