With the large number of protests and new people taking to the streets, someone in NAC thought it’d be helpful to remind everyone about the dangers of collaborating with the police.

Are you considering putting on an event and are worried about how the police will respond? If you’re considering engaging or working with the police, it might feel like you’re helping your event to be safer, but instead you’re making it easier to control, disrupt, or endanger your event.

Why is it important to not coordinate/collaborate/engage with the police?

1. The police don’t keep us safe. The job of police is to protect property, quell dissent, and protect themselves. As shown by their actions and reinforced by the supreme court (Castle Ro you. Police break up collective actions by workers, organizers, and community gck v. Gonzales (2005) and Warren v. District of Columbia (1981)), police have no duty to protect people. Police know they can operate with impunity. They are not your friends and they cannot and should not be relied on to helproups and enforce illegitimate laws while enjoying near-universal immunity.
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_of_Castle_Rock_v._Gonzales and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia 
2. We keep us safe. In November 2023 in Eugene, OR there was an unstable individual who drove a truck into a pro-Palestinian protest, pulled out a splatter gun that people thought was a real gun, and a couple of armed members got him to stop and put down the gun before the police arrived. The injured folks in the action were first treated by members of the action prior to the arrival of EMTs.Similarly, in February 2022, in Portland, OR, a “justice for Amir Locke” protest was attacked by a right-wing assailant. There, also, the police did not stop the violent attack that resulted in the death of a beloved community elder and the severe injury of several others. Members of the action did and were the ones who provided aid.
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandale_Park_shooting 
3. Giving out march routes or sharing planning information enables the police to track, follow, and even kettle (surround and detain) a march or event.This can occur even during the most benign events, including picnics and memorials.
4. Engaging with the police lends them legitimacy that is undeserved and harmful to our community. The wasteful allocation of funds to inflated police budgets are an inditement against the skewed priorities of local, state, and federal governments.
5. Police are more likely to act leniently towards right-wing or centrist folks and more violently towards left-wing folks. The overlap among, and coordination between, right wing reactionaries and the police has been well documented throughout history.
6. Police want actions counter to the narrative of the State to cause as little disruption as possible. Any colaboration with them makes your event more susceptible to being quashed before anyone can hear what you’re saying. Actions are easier to ignore and to hide in wider media if they don’t disrupt the status quo.
7. Collaborating with the police puts a target on your back and makes it more likely for you to be identified as a “leader” and then arrested, detained, or otherwise targeted by the police. Law enforcement is also known to target the friends, families, and communities of those they label “organizer” or “leader”.

How do we keep ourselves safe in practice?

The police aren’t here to make us safe, but we still want to be safe in our actions. How do we do this in practice?

1. Make sure that all actions have safety procedures in place, such as designated medics, de-escalation facilitators, police liaisons, bike brigade and car brigade members.
   1. Medics typically have basic first aid training and also have supplies to provide accessibility support for slower marchers or those suffering from being too hot, too cold, or having low blood sugar.
   2. De-escalators typically have training in how to safely cool down unstable folks associated with, in opposition to, or neutral to the event. De-escalation teams can include rapid response teams to respond to physical threats.
   3. Police liaisons tend to be empowered to communicate with the police to serve as a lightning rod for police attention and delay or stop aggressive police tactics.
   4. Bike brigade and car brigade members typically block off side streets temporarily to prevent traffic incidents and keep the main body of a march safe.
   5. Not all safety measures are listed here and not all these safety measures are needed for every action. Some additional tips are available here: https://www.safeprotest.tips/ 
2. For each safety team, discuss what to do if there’s a safety concern, such as police approaching asking for route information or armed individuals behaving in a threatening manner. Roleplaying through these scenarios can be a useful tool in setting guidance. (see FAQ for additional guidance/best practices)
3. Organizers should discuss and make explicit these safety measures and share these safety measures with folks who need-to-know. In particular, these safety practices should be shared with folks likely to interact with police or other right-wing forces.
4. Recognize that different groups of individuals/organizations may have different levels of comfort with resistance to the police. Let a diversity of tactics thrive and don’t immediately jump to condemning the actions of marchers. If a member of the march uses a tactic or message that you disagree with, consider saving criticisms for after the event. https://neighborhoodanarchists.org/st-paul-principles-flyer/ 
5. We recognize that, despite best efforts, sometimes police will intervene.
6. If organizations do collaborate with the police or are otherwise unsafe, community groups like ours are unlikely to work with you again without some sort of accountability process. Unsafe events are a danger to the community.

Scenario discussion and FAQ

• What if there’s a march planned and cops come up and ask for a march route?
  • Direct police to police liaison.
  • Police liaison politely declines to provide march route and can inform police that safety for marchers has already been set up.
• What would be considered collaboration with the police?
  • aiding in arrests.
  • identifying members of the action (pointing out leaders/organizers)
  • providing personal identifying information.
  • providing sensitive security information such as march routes or identifying roles (e.g. identifying medics or de-escalators).
  • In general, interacting with police at all other than asserting your rights or directing them to the police liaison.
• What is “peace policing”?
  • an unsanctioned (generally outside) individual taking on the role of “protest marshal” in order to enforce the style and tactics they wish, typically making an action more like a permitted event
  • This can also involve “swooping”, where an unsanctioned person/outside group tries to hijack the event for their own ends.
  • “peace policing” can involve singling out individuals for arrest by the police or hijacking the event.
• What should we do if there’s a verbally aggressive outsider?
  • Call over at least one de-escalator.
  • De-escalator can redirect or “babysit” the aggressive outsider and minimize the disruption caused.
  • Arguing is unlikely to work and may escalate the situation.
  • Frequently, a verbally aggressive outsider is looking to provoke negative responses or rile up the crowd. Cooling them off and separating them from the main body of the action will frustrate their efforts.
• What should we do if there’s an aggressive, armed outsider?
  • Call over as many de-escalators as possible (inc. rapid response team).
  • De-escalator can redirect or “babysit” the aggressive outsider and minimize the disruption or threat of violence.
  • Strength in numbers is crucial. Let there be an easy way for the armed outsider to withdraw.
  • Arguing is unlikely to work and may escalate the situation.
  • Cooling them off and separating them from the main body of the action will frustrate their efforts.
  • Make sure to inform the main organizers so the march route can be changed or other safety measures can be put in place.
• What should we do if there’s “peace policing”?
  • Call over at least one de-escalator.
  • Remind them that a variety of tactics are appropriate and that we can discuss further after the action is over.
  • If they persist, treat as verbally aggressive outsider.