ABSTRACT

The police is the department of government charged with the responsibility of

maintaining public safety and public order. However, this thin line between safety and
order is where public order policing comfortably sits. It has often been misconstrued that
the police have only two choices in crowd management techniques, escalating violence
through police intervention, or failing to prevent violence through police inaction. These
are constant dilemmas faced by the police as they respond to specific kinds of events and
situations. The right to organize and participate in large gatherings like campaigns,
protests, rallies, processions, is enshrined as part of our rights. The police are essential in
ensuring it does not become general criminality, such as vandalism, and assaults against
counter-protestors. It is, therefore, understandable that much criticism about public order
policing has been directed at the techniques used to manage these crowds. A prime
example of public order policing gone wrong is the #ENDSARS protests held nationwide
in 2020, where indiscriminate use of weaponry and tactics have deepened the
vulnerability of some and created the conditions for enduring vulnerability for others.

Therefore, this study seeks to discover crowd management techniques that do not
directly conflict with the Constitution's provisions of our fundamental human rights and
find a practical approach to enforcing these techniques to ensure public order and
security. An analysis of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) model
policy on crowd management and control was conducted to identify specific tactics
advocated as best practices for managing various protest crowds, e.g., lawful
assemblies/demonstrations and civil disturbances. In addition, a survey of existing
qualitative data and interviews with crucial authorities were used. Findings showed that
the Nigerian police force still subscribes to the classical crowd psychology and contagion
theory; thus, the constant use of the outdated strategy of escalated force as a first response
tactic in public order policing, which more often than not conflicts with our human rights.
It further proffered the strategy of negotiated management under the theory of community
policing as a more effective technique and strategic incapacitation for a high-risk crowd.