Protests! Get Ready. Remember What We Learned

We are about to enter an era of large, possible violent, protests once again. Will police respond Constitutionally and appropriately? It is possible. But it will involve some learning, policy-making and intensive training. It will also involve the need for a new mindset called The Madison Method.

It’s been a while since our nation’s police have had to deal with ongoing and sometimes violent and property-destroying street protests. In my era, we were challenged by protests against the war in Vietnam and, at the same time, for civil rights. Some of us in policing learned during those years. I know I did when I led the police in Madison, Wisconsin for over 20 years.

What we learned became known as The Madison Method; an effective strategy for police to specially train, plan, and communicate whenever possible with the protest organizers, and to always interact positively with the crowd and avoid having to use physical force. The specifics can be found HERE and In an extensive news article from 2020.

That was the early 70s and into the 90s! Later, A British academic, Clifford Stott, studied how police were responding to football (soccer) crowds who were very partisan and rowdy. The contest often flowed out from the stadium into violent partisan conflicts on the street and in the pubs.

Stott found what we had learned in Madison. He called it the “softly-softly” approach and empirically validated what we had learned in Madison years and I wrote in my book, “Arrested Development in 2012.

Now we are about to come into another era of protest against the present administration in Washington as they believe is the right way to go about making the federal government more “efficient.” One large gathering and protest happened throughout the country on April 5th, more is planned for April 19th.

These coming protests will severely challenge today’s police. The effective and minimal use of force will be a major factor whether police will be supported or vilified in the coming months.

Police in Spokane were recently highlighted for their decision to become more interactive with demonstrators. How and if police agencies throughout the country make this important shift to a more collaborative approach will be critical. How police protect Constitutional rights remain to be seen. For this will involve a major re-orientation and changing of organizational mindset about protest. It will require public discussion of this strategy, development of new policies, and intensive training of selected and mentally prepared police officers,

You can search for more on this subject in the 1600+ currently on this blog site. Getting up to speed on how police respond to public protest is an essential job skill for policing a democracy. The less force that is used the better the outcome. And, yes, this is sorely tested when angry protestors begin to damage people or property.

I want to remind you that the strategy we used was not without its critics. Constantly, I was told to “get tough” and put down these protests. They were difficult days. That difficulty will always be there. Prepare for it.

Here’s the wise advice I received when I took over command of the Madison Police Department in the 1970s. The years before I arrived the department had engaged in years of violent battles with student protesters. Not only had protesters been clubbed by police, many of my officers had been injured as well. I was advised, “Chief, the first day of the protests was about the war. On the second day, it was about how the police responded. Through the years, police remained as the primary issue.” I never forgot that over the years we successfully, and with very little force, handled hundreds of protests in our community.

Don’t let these coming protests be about the police. Let it be how expertly and legally police protected citizens who were exercising their right to peacefully assemble and protest the actions of their government.

Here’s a short update about what’s been going on in Spokane and some links to follow up on:

Spokane Police shifts how it interacts with demonstrators to be more engaging, conversational

By Alexandra Duggan alexandrad@spokesman.com

“As protesters continue to rally against President Donald Trump’s administration, the Spokane Police Department is shifting how it interacts with demonstrators to be more engaging.

“Protests against the president’s controversial immigration crackdown and other policies have ramped up in the months since his second term began, as have demonstrations against Tesla, the electric car manufacturer owned by Trump’s billionaire adviser, Elon Musk.

“Amid these protests, a recent policing strategy launched in Europe is making waves across the country.

“’Dialogue policing’ has proven to be effective, especially following the George Floyd protests of 2020, when police are managing large crowds, according to two Ohio State University professors’ research published in Police Chief magazine.

“The Columbus, Ohio, police developed its dialogue unit after the protests five years ago, and the unit has now grown to more than 50 members, according to reporting from the Columbus Dispatch.

The blueprint is simple: If police communicate with people more often in an effective way, they will engage with officers as protest facilitators instead of protest suppressors. The officers will situate themselves in the middle of a protest to focus solely on helping people achieve their First Amendment expression within the confines of the law, rather than spending time entirely focused on enforcement and confrontation. It’s where police will start to engage in an ‘open dialogue’ with protesters or counterprotesters to establish rapport…”

Read the full news article HERE.

See also retired Boise Chief Mike Masterson (who served with me in Madison) and his article on crowd management (Adopting the New Paradigm), in the FBI Bulletin in August, 2012.