Securitizing America
Police Agenices needed to protect democracy but are also an institution that needs maintenance of public order.
Since 9/11 Strategic incapcitation has displaced escalted and negotiated management and is now dominant strategy used by law enforcement against protesters
Strategic incapcitation is argued by the goals of 'securitizing society' and how disruptive events are neutralized. This occurs in three ways
Use of preemptive arrests and lethal weapons to disrupt or incapacitate protesters
Extensive control of space in order to isolate and contain disruptive protesters that can be actual or potential protesters
Using Surveillance and information sharing to monitor events
From Escalated Force to Negotiated Management
Esclated Force Model is Commonly Used by law enforcement in 1960's
Police maintained order by violating first Amendment rights , mass arrests, and use of force
By Early 1970's "On the Job Troubles" including death , injury and property damage gave rise to "in the Job Troubles" in the form of political criticism , and pressure from elites to find peace
Negotiated Management strategy encourages cooperation between police and protesters through permitting system
This makes planning and enacting protests more predictable and routine
This reduces on the job troubles and increases communication between police and protesters
From Negotiated Management to Strategic Incapcitation
Negotiated Management effectiveness begins to breakdown in face of emerging global justice movement
Issues involving organization and tactics are seen breaking down at 1999 world trade center protests in Seattle
Police are unable to allocate resources and negotiate with Several uncooperative groups
Lack of communication plays huge role in protests going wrong in seattle
Characteristics of Strategic Incapacitation
Extent and manner of using force
Seattle protests are seen as new genre of protests
Tolerance for community Disruption- Police determine in Advance the times and locations behaviors that will be tolderated
First Amendment rights- Only protesters who agree in advance to engage in permitting process and follow police guidelines will have their first amendment rights protected.
Communication- Police refuse to communicate with protesters except to issue commands once protests begin
Extent and manner of arrests- arrests
are selectively applied to neutralize known or suspected transgressive actors often times
before any crimes are committed.
Preemptive arrests neutralize both individuals and organizations
whose actions police cannot predict with certainty
Arrests and detentions
are made without collecting evidence and without the intention of dropping
charges after activists are released from custody
Police routinely use force selectively against perceived or actual transgressive protestors by using non-lethal force to neutralize threats
Use of Surveillance
police collect extensive amounts of information on activists and advocacy groups between protest events
police now collect large amounts of information during protest events
Information Sharing
police rely extensively on information shared across federal, state and local agencies
they now selectively engage the media using sophisticated public relations tactics
Take a 'proactive stance'
Controlling Space
police decide in advance with no input from protest planners where demonstrations will be allowed and divide public and private spaces into three types of securitized zones
Hard zones- areas where targets of protest gather and are off limits to everyone without proper credentials and security clear- ance
Free speech zones- areas where police decide in advance to allow legal protest to occur and are increasingly located far away from the targets of protest like a political con- vention
Soft zones-are public spaces usually adjacent to hard zones where First Amend- ment rights are temporarily curtailed