The use of crowd and riot control squads in modern police operations

Abstract

Within the structure of the Polish Police, as a formation statutorily responsible for the protection of health, life and property of citizens, there are crowd and riot control squads (Pol. pododdziały zwarte). These are police organisational units , also referred to as riot police units (Pol. OPP - Oddziały Prewencji Policji) and independent riot police subunits (Pol. SPPP - Samodzielne Pododdziały Prewencji Policji). Their main advantage is the possibility of deploying several thousand police officers to respond to various events in a relatively short period of time and, if necessary, to broadly understood threats to the security of citizens. This is achieved by the use of appropriate mechanisms for maintaining readiness to act and achieving higher levels of readiness, as well as due to an organisational structure based on the military model, mobility based on available means of transport, a system of specialist trainings and modularity and compatibility with other police squads. Quite a wide range of opportunities to act in situations of existing threats to people and the environment raises the question of the quality and possibilities for the development of this structure, its strengths, as well as difficulties that emerge, both in terms of a direct involvement in various forms of police action, as well as those relating to the real condition of the structure, in the context of forces and measures available to the squads in question. At this point, it is necessary to mention other police structures referred to as police squads which include officers who daily perform different prevention activities (e.g. they occupy the posts of patrol and responding officers at county and municipal police headquarters). These are so-called irregular riot police units (Pol. NOP - Nieetatowe Oddziały Prewencji) and irregular riot police subunits (Pol. NPP - Nieetatowe Pododdziały Prewencji); however, their role and operational rules are not the subject matter, and the main issue under consideration is so-called regular units, whose officers remain in the structures of riot police units and independent riot police subunits.