Maintenance of law and order

See also: MO

The maintenance of law and order (MO) is the whole of the operations aiming at maintaining a civil peace.

The maintenance of law and order aims at guaranteeing to the right individuals vis-a-vis events violent one of great width like a riot, and in particular the right to safety of its person (Article 3 of the Universal declaration of the human rights), the right of circulation (Article 13) and the right to the property (Article 17).

The event having an important width, the forces intended for the maintenance of law and order must they also have important means. It is thus important to tally well these operations in order to limit them to the protection of the goods and the people. The maintenance of law and order can indeed be a pretext to restrict individual freedoms, in particular the right to the freedom of thought and expression (thus of peaceful demonstration, Article 19).

Typical situations

The holding fixtures of the order are set up at title preventive since one envisages a gathering of great width having a risk to degenerate. The concept of “risk to degenerate” is fuzzy and depends on the appreciation of the authorities, as well as public opinion. Let us quote for example:

  • the claiming Demonstration S organized; let us note that the gripping forces of the order can be to protect the demonstrators against counter-demonstrators also there;
  • spontaneous demonstrations: the absence of organization framing the demonstrators and Service of order can make fear overflows;
  • sporting events with a public known for its violences (Hooliganism);
  • Catastrophe S: to allow the intervention of the helps and to avoid the Plundering S.

Means of maintenance of law and order

The great difficulty lies in the proportionality of means and the respect of the human rights. In a concerned Democracy of the respect of its citizens, the maintenance of law and order attempts to limit the wounds inflicted to the Délinquant S and not to cause a Mort. That thus implies:

  • the use of non-fatal weapons;
  • the definition of specific tactics;
  • of the speakers trained with these specific tactics and equipped.
In a democracy, the use of the force or weapons is subjected to the authorization of the civil authority. The use of the force or the weapons implies the strict respect of the principles of proportionality and reversibility. This last concept consists for the police force to being able, within a very short time and for one very short duration, to make use of means of coercion while preserving the possibility of putting a term at this use since the situation does not justify it any more.

In France, the concerning maintenance of law and order the competence of the State, therefore of the prefect in a department, the whole of the operations are led under its control and only the written requisitions that it delivers constitutes the legal base of the action of the police force (CRS or mobile platoon of gendarmes).

Specific tactics

  • With preventive measure

    • monitoring of the large gatherings, by observers in height and observers as a civilian within crowd, at end to detect the beginnings of violence;
    • dissuasive presence of police force; a too visible presence can contrary “overheating the spirits”;
    • limitation of the movements in order to protect from the significant places, like public buildings or people being able to be the target of violences (for example people of foreign origin in the case of racist riots), by condemning streets or by filtering the accesses;
    • presence of very mobile teams (thus little equipped) being able to penetrate easily in crowd and to extract the troublemakers (tactical of exfiltration);

Material and vehicles

  • individual protective gears: Helmet S, bullet-proof jackets, protection of the arms and the legs, Glove S

  • Teargas S
  • offensive grenades
  • water cannons
  • protected vehicles: film of protection on the panes, shielding, grids

Gripping forces of the order

In France

In France, the maintenance of law and order is spring of the national police force and national police, in particular:

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