Civil Disturbance Response: a case study
In my recent article on the power of visual images I discussed the image of a UC Davis campus police officer using pepper spray on student demonstrators. One of the points in my article is that visual images lack context and that we are moved by the image because we don't always know what occurred before or what came after.
One of my contacts has made me aware of a video that purports to set the pepper spraying incident in context. After viewing the video, I think it provides an interesting case study in responding to civil disturbances.
As emergency managers, we need to view case studies from a neutral position, so don't be but off by the rather biased commentary in the video. Assume for the moment that the facts are as purported in the video (the incident is still under investigation and I don't know the provenance of the video). Don't let your support for one side or the other influence you. Instead, consider the following questions:
- Could confrontation have been avoided by different decisions by the police?
- Did the level of confrontation justify the use of chemical agents?
What alternatives, if any, to chemical agents might the police have considered?
I'll offer my thoughts on these questions in my blog on Thursday.