From Reactive Policing to Crowd Management? Policing Anti-Globalization Protest in Canada

Abstract

There has been some significant debate over the last decade concerning a purported trend in ‘Western’ public order policing policy and practices away from a primarily reactive, confrontational and protester dispersal model, to one that is based more within the notion of de-escalation of conflict, entailing intelligence-led policing, mutual communication and negotiated accommodation, i.e. towards the ‘management’ of crowds. The reasons for such a shift have been located variously within a general movement towards a more liberal democratic society in these countries, and the process of social change generally, resulting in an increasing movement from modern to advanced-modern society.
Again, the reasons why the police are involved in this developmental change is seen as being due to their relationship with the state, concerns about legitimate action and their operating within an increasingly risk-based society. However, the police themselves are not solely effecting change by responding to external pressure, but also act as agents for change themselves on the basis of police knowledge and lessons learned.