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