Kristian Williams - Our Enemies in Blue - Police and Power in America

ANATOMY OF A POLICE RIOTTelevised footage of the 1968 Democratic National Convention shocked the nation.69Mobs of police were filmed beating protesters, bystanders, and reportersviciouslyand indiscriminately. Over 100 people were hospitalized as the resultof police violence.7o Senator Abraham Ribicoff spoke on the floor of the conventionagainst the "Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago.''?! George McGoverndescribed the scene as a ''blood bath," also making comparison to "Nazi Germany."72Norman Mailer commented:What staggered the delegates who witnessed the attack-more accurateto call it the massacre, since it was sudden, unprovoked, and total-onMichigan Avenue, was that it opened the specter of what it might mean forthe police to take over society. They might comport themselves in sucha case not as a force of law and order, not even as a force of repressionupon civil disorder, but as a true criminal force; chaotic, improvisational,undisciplined, and finally-sufficiently aroused-uncontrollable.73Mailer's characterization of police behavior closely matches that produced bymore systematic studies. Daniel Walker, in his authoritative report on the DNC,notes, "Fundamental police training was ignored; and officers, when on the scene,were often unable to control their men.''!'; Walker's report offers this example:A high-ranking Chicago police commander admits that on [at least one]occasion the police "got out of control." This same commander appearsin one of the most vivid scenes of the entire week, trying desperately tokeep individual policemen from beating demonstrators as he screams,"For Christ's sake, stop it!" 75Such a breakdown in command, when paired with the widespread and excessive use of force, is perhaps the defining mark of the classic police riot 76 In his book,Police Riots: Collective Violence and Law En/arcement, sociologist Rodney Starkoffers a six-step outline as to how these riots unfold:(1) "Convergence"-There must be substantial numbers on both sides.(2) "Confrontation" -Either police actions attract hostile crowds, or policedeem some gathering illegal and move in to break it up.(3) "Dispersal"-Police attempt to break up the crowd.(4) "The Utilization of Force"-Police use force against the crowd.(5) "The Limited RioC-Excessive or punitive force ends once the crowdis dispersed. The limited police riot is often signified by the disintegrationof police formations into small autonomous groups, charging into crowds,chasing fleeing individuals, and beating people up.(6) 'The Extended Police Riot"-Attacks continue even after the crowdhas dispersed. Extended riots are most common in densely populatedareas, like college campuses or urban ghettos. Then, police attacks oftenattract new crowds, thus renewing confrontations.?7There are a number of factors that, in the right circumstances, give policeactions this trajectory. Among them are specific crowd control tactics, operationaldeficiencies, the machismo inherent to cop culture, and a paranoid ideology thatleads police to overestimate the threat crowds pose,79187