During the 1980's, the police acquired the coercive power to impose their will on unruly crowds, and the law gave them the power to do so. As a result, some commentators are concerned that the police will take a confrontational approach to political protests and other manifestations of dissent. They are also concerned that this approach is one step along the path to an authoritarian government. The inner-city riots and picket-line violence during the 1980's appear to substantiate this view. However, the observations of police approaches during the 2.5 years of research revealed that the enforcement of law and the employment of coercive tactics is uneven, rather than uniformly repressive. Therefore, to describe the policing of public order in contemporary Great Britain as drifting into a law-and-order society is too simplistic. Tables and 33 references