The thing about civil unrest and curfews: The police have the legal right to order a crowd away (or disburse), when they don't listen, they have the right to use levels of force to ensure compliance with the order/law. Most cities have bylaws which demand a license(or permission from the city) for public display/parade/protest, if not then the public display could be thought as illegal gathering....
Levels of force can only be 1 level up from what is being used against police. Police can use water cannon/tear gas etc if people are throwing bricks/using threatening language. This is usually enough. If some crowd member brings a knife, machete, or gun to a protest, and it looks like they are going to use it; police can use deadly force.
In most protests there are always agitators who try to incite the crowd to more violence (for whatever reason). There are always trouble makers who will loot, and do criminal things using the advantage of the crowd for cover.
The problem with the police is that they are ill trained to deal with crowd control. Discipline is a key factor. Attitude is a factor. Unfortunately giving a badge to some policemen in the states is the equivalent of giving them a license to commit crimes and get away with it. The police that think they are above the law get away with it due to the "silence of conspiracy". They don't get outed because they are a fellow police officer. The police have to change the way they think.
I'm pretty sure a few years ago the Vancouver police had a bad incident at the Vancouver Airport. They tasered a man and he ended up dead. You would think that police would be educated on the well being/care of anyone taking into custody, by a police officer. In Canada the police officer has to administer first aid of anyone taken into their custody. If they fire tear gas at someone, they have to treat the symptom if that person is in custody. ie remove to clean air, tell them not to wipe their eyes etc, only makes it worse and spreads....let the tear gas evaporate, don't rub skin etc.
Not sure what is the law in the states, but it should be similar, the police are responsible for the person under arrest/in custody.
PS when I was in high school in the 80s there was this young male actor who died because he was fucking around with a handgun with blanks in it. He shot himself in the temple, from a few inches away and dies due to the excess force of the blank bullet at close range. I have been seeing some police pointing bean guns and guns with plastic bullets pointing at the face of protesters from less than 2 feet away. I believe they are trained to hit the center of mass (of the body) not the face. Those policemen are in the wrong. Yes the police need more training and more discipline on how to do their jobs in a crowd control situation.
Levels of force can only be 1 level up from what is being used against police. Police can use water cannon/tear gas etc if people are throwing bricks/using threatening language. This is usually enough. If some crowd member brings a knife, machete, or gun to a protest, and it looks like they are going to use it; police can use deadly force.
In most protests there are always agitators who try to incite the crowd to more violence (for whatever reason). There are always trouble makers who will loot, and do criminal things using the advantage of the crowd for cover.
The problem with the police is that they are ill trained to deal with crowd control. Discipline is a key factor. Attitude is a factor. Unfortunately giving a badge to some policemen in the states is the equivalent of giving them a license to commit crimes and get away with it. The police that think they are above the law get away with it due to the "silence of conspiracy". They don't get outed because they are a fellow police officer. The police have to change the way they think.
I'm pretty sure a few years ago the Vancouver police had a bad incident at the Vancouver Airport. They tasered a man and he ended up dead. You would think that police would be educated on the well being/care of anyone taking into custody, by a police officer. In Canada the police officer has to administer first aid of anyone taken into their custody. If they fire tear gas at someone, they have to treat the symptom if that person is in custody. ie remove to clean air, tell them not to wipe their eyes etc, only makes it worse and spreads....let the tear gas evaporate, don't rub skin etc.
Not sure what is the law in the states, but it should be similar, the police are responsible for the person under arrest/in custody.
PS when I was in high school in the 80s there was this young male actor who died because he was fucking around with a handgun with blanks in it. He shot himself in the temple, from a few inches away and dies due to the excess force of the blank bullet at close range. I have been seeing some police pointing bean guns and guns with plastic bullets pointing at the face of protesters from less than 2 feet away. I believe they are trained to hit the center of mass (of the body) not the face. Those policemen are in the wrong. Yes the police need more training and more discipline on how to do their jobs in a crowd control situation.
