Describing and Accounting for the Trends in US Protest Policing, 1960−1995

Abstract

Numerous scholars have observed a decline in more coercive police tactics used to control demonstrations since the 1960s in North America and Western Europe. Such claims, however, are largely based on rather unsystematic observation, and almost no research directly examines the evolution of protest policing during this entire period. To address this gap, the authors use semiparametric logistic regression to examine reported police presence, the use of arrests, and the use of force at 15,965 US protests occurring between 1960 and 1995. The results confirm that while there has been an absolute decline in more repressive policing behavior, the transitional process was not a monotonic, linear process. The authors also investigate the different evolutionary patterns of each type of protest policing. The authors further demonstrate that African American initiated events, government targets, social movement organization presence, protest forms, the use of force, and arrests have variable impacts on police responses over time.

Preparing for action: police deployment decisions for demonstrations

“…Especially the relatively weak impact of the political threat variables is remarkable -they only exert influence on the number of police officers present and not on the equipment they bring with them. This is however consistent with previous literature showing that situational threats are more relevant for protest policing than political threats, that are more diffuse (Earl et al 2006, Rafail et al 2012.…”

“…In this perspective, 'situational' or 'physical' threats would do a better job in accounting for protest policing (Earl et al 2006, Rafail et al 2012. Earl et al (2006) argue that, since the primary aim of the police is to maintain public order, the major perceived threat by police officers is loss of control.…”

The Ethnic Dimensions in Social Movements

“…For these reasons, minority movements are much more likely to experience coercive repression (Davenport, Soule and Armstrong 2011;Earl, McCarthy and Soule 2003;Rafail, Soule and McCarthy 2012). Christian Davenport (2005) shows that 1960s-1970s repression against a Black Nationalist group in Detroit targeted the neighborhoods where targets lived, not just the individual members.…”

International Protest Events and the Hierarchy of Credibility: Media Frames Defining the Police and Protestors as Social Problems

“…Research indicates a trend in policing behaviours of moving from "hard" to "soft" tactics (Gillham, Edwards, and Noakes 2013;Gorringe and Rosie 2013;Rafail, Soule, and McCarthy 2012). This trend, though, is not necessarily linear or consistent across geographic locations (Rafail, Soule, and McCarthy 2012).…”

“…Research indicates a trend in policing behaviours of moving from "hard" to "soft" tactics (Gillham, Edwards, and Noakes 2013;Gorringe and Rosie 2013;Rafail, Soule, and McCarthy 2012). This trend, though, is not necessarily linear or consistent across geographic locations (Rafail, Soule, and McCarthy 2012). In addition, some argue that policing of international protest events is an exception to this trend and that these events should be viewed as a distinct category, as they do not occur in the context of national cultures and policing (Martin 2011;McPhail, Schweingruber, and McCarthy 1998).…”