As politicians and the police grapple with nationwide riots, it’s worth looking to London for some lessons.
Specifically, to London’s experience in August 2011.
As with George Floyd, the match which lit London’s spark was the police killing of a black man, Mark Duggan. The difference in London’s case is that Duggan’s shooting was justified. What began as a peaceful march in the Tottenham area of the British capital then spiraled into looting and violent exchanges between gang members, some protesters, and police officers. Exacerbated by a sense of longstanding racism in the police, violent disorder was quick to grow. The next day, looting spread across North London, and the day after that, across the rest of the city. The chaos was significant, seeing police units overrun in certain areas, numerous businesses ransacked, important buildings set on fire, and five people murdered. The rioting then spread to other major cities before it was quashed.
But how was it quashed?
Well, I believe three lessons are relevant to our present predicament.
First off, the need for mobility.
The police must be able to confront rioters quickly. Unless the rioters believe that their criminality will be constrained, they will continue looting and burning their way through the streets. As in London, that constraint will require groups of highly mobile police officers who can chase and intercept rioters around the city. One challenge here is that many urban police forces in the United States lack people carriers that can carry groups of officers. Forces can somewhat mitigate this concern by deploying four officers in patrol cars. But it will still be too dangerous in many scenarios for four, eight, or twelve officers to interdict rioters on their own. It might be necessary for the police to borrow buses or military trucks.
Then there’s aggressive policing.
I recognize that many people will view aggressive policing as the last thing this situation needs. And as applied to peaceful protesters, that’s absolutely correct. Although some of the positive exchanges we’ve seen between protesters and police officers can inspire us to believe that better days are coming, sensitive policing of peaceful protests will be crucial. If not, some of those protesters may turn to violence or tolerate violent elements in their ranks.
Nevertheless, stopping the riots is also going to take aggressive policing.
The police must displace the rioters’ sense of excitement and opportunity with an imposition of unpalatable consequences. And that’s only going to happen if the police can dominate the rioters’ freedom of action. That will mean sending in snatch squads to grab riot ringleaders and extricate them from crowds. It will mean arresting rioters as they’re sleeping the next morning. It will mean using batons, tear gas, and other tools to corral rioters. It won’t look nice.
It will also require officers to do something that the vast majority are already comfortable doing: show great personal courage. As was the case in London, officers will sometimes be greatly outnumbered and facing serious threat. Sometimes retreat will be possible and sometimes it won’t be.
As we mourn George Floyd, we should thank those who are leaving their own families at night in order to keep ours safe.
Finally, there’s the numbers factor.
In England, the riots were only ultimately quelled when the police were able to surge their deployments. While canceling leave and extending overtime will help, it will probably also be necessary to redeploy police officers from rural areas to support urban forces. This may require political action to provide those officers with new authorities to act in cities where they are not sworn to serve. But it should be done where possible. After all, it would mean thousands more officers being available for certain cities. At the same time, the national guard can provide static protection for areas such as the White House and retail sites that are magnets for violent disorder. Top line: maximizing civilian police numbers is a far better idea than deploying active-duty combat infantry units onto the streets.
It’s obviously far easier to write this than to do it.
In addition, because the riots are occurring alongside peaceful protests, the police will face very tough choices as to when and how to act. They must protect the rights of the latter while also holding accountable the rioters. That won’t be easy when it gets dark, and big crowds from both camps are mixing. Mistakes will inevitably be made here. But if the police can reach a critical mass of arrests, the mob mentality will perish with the mob’s declining numbers.
Things will then improve.
