NCJ Number
109117
Date Published
1986
Length
28 pages
Annotation
The involvement of police agencies at all stages of public disorder is a dynamic process in which the police may themselves become the focus of the riot. Their responses to public hostility directed against them affects the development of that hostility as much as it affects re-establishing civil order.
Abstract
These dynamics can be seen in the police and community response to the Easter motorcycle race disturbances in Bathurst, Australia. In the 1950's, the disturbances were not directed against police; in the 1960's, violent clashes developed between police and young people in a contest over control of public space (parks, pubs, etc.) but disturbances were sporadic and town-centered. Through the 1970's and 1980's this violence escalated, eventually leading to firearms checks and the creation of police compound. In the police response, there was a change of strategy from soft, noninterventionist policing, to limited interventionist police, and finally to saturation policing. The experiences in Bathurst illustrate the effects in changes in police manpower deployment on violence, and the effects of changes in police strategies on patterns of crowd behavior. While tactical response policing may be required in some public order circumstances, attention must be paid to its potential of providing momentum to additional disorder. 7 notes and 14 references.