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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning and Training for Civil Disorders (Riots) 1968 � 4NT °F aP�� • ' °F ` DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY o N OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE ARMY l T OFFICE WASHINGTON, OF CIVIL D.G. 20310 DEFENSE .,, III',' P o- July 15, 1968 MEMORANDUM FOR CIVIL DEFENSE OFFICIALS SUBJECT: Address by Major General Carl C. Turner, The Provost Marshal General, U. S. Army Based upon recommendations of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, President Johnson directed the Attorney General to arrange to conduct a series of training conferences for govern- mental and police officials. The Attorney General was assisted by the International Association of Police Chiefs in planning, designing, and arranging for the conferences. The first phase of this program was a series of four one -week conferences on the Prevention and Control of Civil Disorders held at the Airlie Conference Center near Warrenton, Virginia, in January and February 1968. Among those addressing the conferences was Major General Carl C. Turner, The Provost Marshal General, Department of the Army. Attached is a reprint of his address as it appeared in "The Police Chief" IAPC, May 1968. There is a tendency to identify riots with police action, so that in a riot situation the police are implicitly thought to be solely involved. However, as General Turner stated, "Since the chief executive bears the burden of ultimate responsibilities, he must be prepared to exercise his executive prerogatives and authority in a positive manner commen- surate with that ultimate responsibility." The points he has made are important to the understanding of executive responsibility and coordinated governmental actions in all emergencies. The concept and the specifics of General Turner's discussion have application to the efforts of those civil defense directors who have broad planning responsibilities. We believe that this article will serve as a good basis for discussion between you and your chief executive. We appreciate the cooperation of General Turner and the International Association of Police Chiefs in permitting us to make this address available to you. til 9 e g~d , John W. McConnell Attachment I V While they are by no means the sole agency concerned with the sup- pression and control of civil disturbances, the police are undeniably the principal bulwark against public disorder... . Traditionally, they are the thin blue line expected to cope with any and all eventualities. PLANNING AND TRAINING FOR CIVIL DISORDERS By MAJOR GENERAL CARL C. TURNER, U.S.A. The Provost Marsha: General U.S. Department of the Army Washington, D. C. 20315 • Civil disorder, the threat of civil elimination or minimization of the local civil disorder will be dis- disorder, or even the possibility causes, I will not address myself cussed in later sessions of munic- of civil disorder, disturbs the peace- directly to this subject. That is ipal officials and will, of course, ful slumber of virtually every not to say that I think civil dis- reflect the guidance previously municipal executive in the country order is inevitable. No —what I furnished each Governor by the today. am saying is that I claim no quali- Attorney General. Hence, my re- No matter the complexity of fication to delve into the sociologi- marks will cover activities and causative or provocative conditions cal, cultural, and economic com- planning which in many instances defined by sociologists with vary- plexities involved. The many will avert the need for federal mili- ing degrees of credibility and ac- causes, their analyses and evalua- tary assistance in dealing with local curacy —in the end the chief execu- tion, and the prescription for effec- disorder. tive of each of these cities is tive prevention and remedial ac- The use of federal assistance is responsible, in the eyes of the tion, certainly present a worthy Least likely in cities whose officials public, for any unpleasantness challenge to the combined talents have carefully prepared them - which occurs. The police chief has of those citizens most learned and selves for civil emergencies: his responsibilities in the matter, accomplished in a broad span of (1) These are the cities that and they are weighty responsibili- professionalism embracing the law, have developed the intelligence ties, but other departments and medicine, education, sociology, re- capacity which permits the chief echelons of government are sim- ligion, economics, and politics. executives to keep their fingers on ilarly involved. In the final analy- I am a soldier and a policeman. the public pulse —they know when sis, it is the mayor who must Therefore, it is only appropriate the pot is getting too hot. answer for the end product. that I limit my observations to (2) These are the cities where Since the chief executive bears those two well - defined areas of imaginative and thoroughly de- the burden of ultimate responsi- concern. tailed planning has been under - bility he must be prepared to exer- From these points of view I taken. cise his executive prerogatives and propose to discuss the problems (3) These are the cities in authority in a positive manner besetting you as responsible law which police and task - related de- commensurate with that ultimate enforcement executives: prepara- partments are properly trained and responsibility. tion for civil disturbance and equipped. While I am well aware that the tactical suppression of violence and Generation and dissemination of most desirable solution to the prob- threatened violence if it occurs. accurate intelligence are admit - lem of civil disobedience is the The mechanics of securing fed- tedly essential. The prepared cities prevention of disorder through eral military assistance to deal with develop plans to provide intelli- 1 THE POLICE CHIEF • MAY 1968 and operation, but must conform tions, the state police, the National Whether the shift from normal to the typical organizational struc- Guard or federal units called in to routine police operations to ture. assist. an emergency basis is smooth Operational and mobilization This critical communications and effective depends upon planning must complement one an- and control problem arising from the success with which the other and provide suitable com- the present shortage of frequencies police can provide unified mand and control procedures, requires immediate attention. Fur - command control. communication, intelligence and thermore, miniaturized communi- tactics. Whether the shift from cations equipment for officers on normal routine police operations foot is critically needed to assist in gence, both for planning purposes, to an emergency basis is smooth command and control during civil and to assist in determining the and effective depends upon the disorders. nature and location of potential success with which the police can We should remember that tradi- disorder. Avenues for the exchange provide unified command control. tional tactics using various squad of information and the integration Under ordinary conditions, a po- formations for dispersing crowds of intelligence data from outside lice dispatcher controls the move- are sound; however, these tactics resources are developed and used. ment of men and equipment from are of little or no value in disor- Planning is also necessary to in- a central position to places around ders characterized by roving bands sure generation of on- the -scene in- the city. In most police depart- of rioters who are engaged in loot - formation to influence operations ments the system works well ing, sniping, and fire bombing. An during a disorder. Trained person- enough —as long as the demands awareness of these deficiencies is nel should be assigned on a full- on the dispatcher do not overtax mandatory and plans must be made time basis to these intelligence the capabilities of the man or his to deal with all the anticipated duties. equipment, and so long as the tactics of rioters in future disor- Closely allied to planning for number of men to be moved, and ders. We must focus our plan - intelligence activities is planning to operations in which they are in- ning attention on the types of dis- cope with the ever - present prob- volved, remain relatively constant. orders that may develop in the lem of rumors. Distortion of fact However, my observations have future: picketing, marching, sit - often serves as the spark which revealed serious problems in com- ins, rioting, looting, fire bombing, moves people to lawlessness and manding and controlling large etc. We must plan for the .exact violence. The spread of rumors numbers of police required to work response necessary to meet changes during disorders serves to inflame together as an effective, coor- in rioting patterns or activities. people and to intensify disorder— dinated team. The problem has Well-prepared cities plan, too, making the control job more diffi- been compounded by the shortage for utilization of outside rein - cult. A collection center will en- of on -duty supervisors and com- forcements and when to call for able the police and other respon- mand staff at certain periods of them. sible officials to counter the rumors the day. It is one thing to as- One of the more difficult de- by disseminating accurate informa- semble a large force; it is quite cisions is when to call for them. tion rapidly to community leaders another to provide that force with There are, of course, the practical in the troubled areas. I believe appropriate direction and leader- questions of when outside assist- that Chicago has an approach to ship. ance is actually necessary; and this in the establishment of their Effective command and control there are political pressures since "Rumor Center." in a civil disorder depend to a very local officials may be understand - Planning for disaster —and an large degree upon communications. ably reluctant to admit that local outbreak of civil disorder can be Adequate operational communica- government cannot control the dis- a disaster —must be detailed and tions are a matter of prior plan- order. There are no simple and complete. Drawing up a few ab- ning and available equipment. automatic solutions to these prob- stract, theoretical, academically Relatively few police departments lems. Only experienced judge - oriented, strategic schemes which have adequate communications ment can provide answers. Plan - embrace a large measure of "wish- equipment or frequencies, and ning, however, can pave the way ful thinking" is not a substitute. many have no special radio fre- for immediate assistance once the Plans must be flexible and ap- quency for emergencies. The lack decision has been made. Addition - plicable both to the smallest of of emergency frequencies with the ally, planning must recognize the incidents and to a major riot. Plans resulting overloading of normal fact that outside assistance will re- must provide for the total mobili- frequencies may not only preclude quire lead time adequate for their zation of resources. They must effective command and control of response. realistically anticipate the diminu- police in the area of a civil dis- `" I have learned from recent civil tion of resources which result from order but may undermine the abil- disorders that there should be built typical interruption of normal ity of a police department to pro- into every plan a graduated series communication. vide vital protective services to the of warning factors which will pre - Plans must provide for the clear- remainder of the city. Further, the cipitate requests for assistance. cut designation of authority and lack of adequate communications Such warning indicators might be: responsibility down to the smallest facilities is particularly acute with a need to deploy all available on- organization element. Plans must respect to requesting outside as- duty personnel or to recall men anticipate an increase in activity sistance from surrounding jurisdic - from off -duty; it might be the com - 2 mitment of the major portion of they may, within the limits of their seek an honest evaluation of effec- the entire police force, or continued resources, favorably respond to tiveness. The analysis of each test police control measures to a point your urgent requests for military should be brutally objective. The that brings about excessive fatigue, equipment of a protective nature. temptation to find reassurance in or that significant sections of the To expand somewhat: an urgent expressions of "mutual admiration" city are left without police pro- request is one that states disorder should be denied in the interests tection. has broken out and equipment of realistic preparation for emer- It seems increasingly apparent such as helmets, protective masks, gency. to me that there exists among all armored vests, fire - fighting equip- These tests are not, and cannot of us in law enforcement the ment, is needed immediately. If be, mechanical or electronic analy- strong tendency to rely too heavily this same type of protective equip- ses of standard situations based on upon our own law enforcement ment is needed in anticipation of imaginary environments and ficti- resources. To be more specific: disorder, local officials —you— tious personalities. Instead, the during serious civil disorders to must inform state authority. The scenarios must be an accurate rep - delay too long our requests for governor's office or the state ad- resentation of problems likely to outside assistance. I do not refer jutant general will process your confront the city. The physical, just to the matter of delaying re- request through Army channels. emotional and intellectual over - quests for federal assistance, but On the other hand, if you need tones of the city and its people also to the matter of deferring the weapons, ammunition or not must be acknowledged and incor- request for state law enforcement agents, urgently or anticipated, porated into the problem and the assistance. We must continuously your requests must go through testing procedure. Living, breath - monitor the intelligence build -up normal channels— specifically, the when serious domestic violence is state government to the Army, to occurring, and as soon as it is as- the Secretary of Defense or the Control of civil disturbances certained that local law enforce- Joint Chief of Staff for approval. • • . requires training and ment resources are going to be in- My brief and admittedly gen- performance that are almost sufficient to restore order, it is eral discussion of the planning opposite in nature to those incumbent upon responsible offi- problems clearly indicates that needed for normal police cials to advise the appropriate many agencies and their resources operation .. . authorities of this fact and to re- must be manipulated simultane- quest outside assistance, regard- ously in order to realize effective ing, thinking men must be required less of its source, without delay. total mobilization of resources. to identify problems and make de- Supplies and equipment cannot May I suggest the creation, for cisions. The actual strengths and be easily procured at the time of both planning and operational pur- weaknesses of actual personalities an emergency. Every city should poses, of what we in the military must be reflected in the decision execute detailed plans for the rapid would call a task force. making process. procurement of critical equipment. This task force, headed by the Check lists should be prepared to chief executive, would bring to- In short, no standard test prob assure that the required supplies gether, as a command element, the lem can be used in all cities. No and equipment are on hand and at chief of police, fire chief, city en- common denominator can be es the various assembly areas, com- gineer, surgeon general, commis- tablished War gaming" in the mand posts and other locations sinner of public utilities, city attor- Army sense, or similar techniques applied by big business, is not well when required. ney and other heads of municipal It is apparent that many indi- departments to insure maximum suited to the testing of municipal civil disturbance test situations. viduals, civilian and military alike, effectiveness in the marshalling of believe that emergency loan of city resources and their considered My short discussion of exercises Army resources to local officials application to every planning and designed to test planning opens the for use during civil disturbances operational situation. way to a discussion of training. is something new and difficult to Assembled for planning pur- There is no substitute for careful effect. On the contrary, Army poses, this task force can exercise and imaginative training. regulations have always provided its common muscle by running Each department should em- for this type of assistance. The training exercises designed to test bark upon a coordinated training problem has been that information the effectiveness of planning and program to insure that every man on the procedures involved has identify any areas of weakness. is prepared to discharge his indi- not been fully understood and, in These training exercises, based on vidual responsibilities with confi- some cases, not disseminated to scenarios embracing likely emer- dence. This training must insure the lowest levels of command and gency situations, will provide an that each echelon with the depart - enforcement.. In any case, the opportunity to test mobilization ment can function effectively and Army decided that clarification plans, communications, logistic re- in tune with contemporary junior was in order and directives were sponsiveness, organizational con- and senior echelons. Finally, the sent to all local commanders of cepts and the effectiveness of com- program should indicate that the installations and organizations lo- mand control techniques. combined departments are capable cated in the 50 states, District of These tests should extend to the of controlled and coordinated re- Columbia and the territories. These lowest possible echelon in every sponse to the will of the chief commanders were informed that department concerned and should executive. 3 Combined training of municipal departments must suddenly conver disorder often denies use of the departments and their personnel themselves into a different type o first weapon of restraint —the is certain to generate mutual con- organization and adopt new opera- prompt display of force. The un fidence and understanding of tional procedures. The individual happy alternatives then are either tactics, functions and responsi- officer must stop acting independ- to ignore the disorder pending the bilities. ently and begin to perform as a arrival of more manpower or to This cohesiveness is invariably member of a closely supervised apply the maximum degree of enhanced when training programs military-type unit. force — firearms. are designed to create a better un- Additional problems emerge in I regard non - lethal chemical derstanding of sociological, cul- areas where many contiguous po- agents as the single most valuable tural and psychological factors un- lice jurisdictions share a single and effective type of middle -range derlying the civil disorders. metropolitan area. Many of our weaponry in controlling civil dis - Additionally, each department larger cities have developed sub- orders. Army and National Guard can learn to appreciate the special urban areas of independent govern- doctrine prescribes the use of riot problems facing the others. This ments, but virtually indistinguish- control agents before resorting to mutual understanding can charac- able boundaries. Civil disorders firearms. These are the most hu- terize interdepartmental relation- do not respect jurisdictional lines. mane means of achieving tem- ships from the task force head- Municipal executives faced with porary neutralization of a mob quarters down to the policeman, this problem should influence de- with a minimum of personal the fireman, the social worker and tailed coordination between police injury. the public health official working departments of adjoining areas and together in the street. explore the possibilities of pre - I have departed briefly from my arranged sharing of resources— Inevitably when discussing avowed intention to limit my re- police suppression and con - marks to the problems peculiar to both personnel and equipment. The trot of disorders ... we must the police —let me return. pre- appointment of single coin- face the problem of degree of Police departments, especially manders and the establishment of force .. . in large metropolitan areas, are joint control systems is frequently desirable. not readily adaptable to the con- ot of major civil disturbances. In some instances, enabling Insufficient numbers of protec- tr m r i vil of of m r it n ha- legislation is necessary to secure tive masks, together with a con- e g P the desired degree of joint effort. cern for the Large number of non - sizes responsibilities of the indi- Again, common means of police participants in an area, may rec- vidual policeman who works communication between adjacent ommend against utilizing chemical largely independently of his fellow jurisdictions is vitally important. agents. Some police officials have officers. The policeman' s routine, Inevitably when discussing po- been inhibited by the unfavorable day -to -day duties require him to lice suppression and control of dis- public reaction to the use of any deal with a variety of minor, iso- orders —we must face the problem gas weapon. lated incidents which usually in- of degree of force. The Army prescribes a chemical volve only small numbers of peo- ple at any one time. The very Let me now touch upon the use agent, CS, as the standard non - nature of his work, riding or walk- of force. The basic rule, when lethal agent in civil disturbances. ing mostly alone, has meant that applying force is to use only the This is a fine powder with some of he works with little direct super- minimum force necessary to effec- the same characteristics as con - vision or guidance. tively control the situation. Un- ventional tear gas. It has, how - The control of civil disturb - warranted application of force will ever, proven far more effective ances, on the other hand, requires only incite further violence as well than tear gas. training and performance that are as kindle resentment that could A few police departments have almost opposite in nature to those convert a minor disorder into a not utilized CS because it is gen- needed for normal police opera- full -scale riot. Ill- advised or ex- erally believed to present too high tions. Riot control duty calls for cessive application of force can a risk. Yet military tests have relatively large numbers of group- Prolong a disturbance. demonstrated CS to be relatively disciplined personnel, comparable Just how much force constitutes safe and to have no permanent to soldiers in a military unit, or- the minimum necessary to control effects. In addition, the Army has ganized and trained to work as a situation cannot be measured by recently developed new container members of a team under a highly verbal formula. and projectile devices which now unified command and control sys- The Army prescribes a standard make it possible to use CS dis - tem. Indeed, no matter how well graduated scale of force in a civil criminatingly against small groups trained and skilled a police officer disorder which begins with the dis- or even individuals. I suggest your may be, he will be relatively in- play of force, increases to the fix- exploration of chemicals and effectual in dealing with civil dis- ing of bayonets; then the use of chemical techniques available to turbances so long as he functions chemical agents, and finally reaches your police departments. as an individual in the traditional the highest degree of force: the Gentlemen, I have gone rapidly police manner. use of firearms. over a number of subjects any one Therefore, when a major civil Inability to quickly bring suffi- of which could merit a length of disturbance occurs, many police cient manpower to the scene of a discussion greater than the total 4 time available to use here, today. fort in the recent display of If we are to expect as we With your indulgence I will con- bumper stickers reading: "Support should that local police are to ac- elude my remarks with a personal your local police," I' would feel a cept the basic responsibility for the observation close to my heart. similar minor jubilance at seeing preservation of law and order — While they are by no means the other stickers reading `Be kind to we must help them return to their sole agency concerned with the children," or "Avoid running over traditional image of minions of the suppression and control of civil elderly pedestrians in crosswalks." law — deserving and receiving the disturbances, the police are unde- Of course we must support our respect of every private citizen. niably the principal bulwark against police! And not only with kindly As long as it remains fashionable public disorder. Traditionally, expressions of sympathy but with to denounce every positive law en- they are the thin blue line expected equipment, adequate personnel re- forcement action as "police bru- to cope with any and all eventuali- sources, fiscal acknowledgement tality" we cannot expect the firm ties. There is an unhappy tendency and reasonable appreciation of the command of an officer to restrain to expect too much of them as in- many problems with which they incipient disorderliness. dividuals and as agencies. The are confronted. tiresome, but often repeated ex- I do not suggest the smallest I urge civic officials to lend their of pression: "There is never a cop condonation of inappropriate po- unstinting support to the restora- tion the r around with l it the strong suggestion toward public diminution of police It is police mporta tto that the "cop" should not be in stature as a device to solicit the of and order in this nation. * evidence unless you want him. political sympathies of anti - police While I take some small com- elements in the community. THE POLICE CHIEF • MAY 1968 Reprinted with permission of INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE, INC. 5