K-1. The mission of the military forces in a civil disturbance is to apply the minimum force necessary to help local or HN authorities restore law and order. Most often, military personnel disperse unauthorized assemblages and patrol disturbed areas to prevent unlawful acts. Other missions assigned to MP or other military forces include—

• Maintaining the mechanics of essential distribution, transportation, and communications systems.

• Making a show of force.

• Setting up roadblocks.

• Cordoning off areas.

• Dispersing crowds.

• Releasing riot control agents (RCAs).

• Serving as security forces or reserves.

• Initiating needed relief measures, such as distributing food or clothing or establishing emergency shelter.

• Employing nonlethal munitions and equipment.

K-2. Military control force commanders must know what options are available to them. They select the option that is best for the specific physical and psychological environment. They must be able to reduce the intensity of the confrontation and restore order.

K-3. The commitment of military forces to civil-disturbance control operations does not automatically give these forces police power. There are legal and commonsense reasons to restrict the police power of military forces. All military leaders and planners must be familiar with laws, regulations, and policies that govern military involvement in civil disturbances.

K-4. In all contacts with the civilian population and the participants of the disturbance, military forces must display fair and impartial treatment and must adhere to the principle of minimum force. Whenever possible, civil police apprehend, process, and detain civil law violators. Military forces perform these functions only when necessity dictates and to the minimum extent required. The return these functions to civil authorities as soon as possible.

K-5. As the disturbance subsides, the commander takes steps to restore control to civil authorities. The control force gradually reduces the number and scope of its operations. It takes care not to give the impression that all controls have been removed. Withdrawal is not immediate. The disturbance may flare up again if the participants get the impression that authorities have abandoned the operations. The control force gradually withdraws in a phased return of control to civil authorities.

K-6. On DOD installations overseas and at US embassies and consulates, HN forces generally control disturbances targeted at US facilities because of the possible international political ramifications of foreign civil disturbances. Status of Forces Agreements define the legal considerations that guide and constrain actions by US military commanders. Commanders must have an effective liaison with HN authorities. Through close coordination with HN authorities, US commanders can determine the level of visibility and the involvement, if any, of US forces.

K-7. The presence or absence of social factors like leadership, moral attitudes, and social uniformity may influence crowd behavior. Leadership has a profound effect on the intensity and direction of crowd behavior. When blocked from expressing its emotions in one direction, a crowd's frustration and hostility can be redirected elsewhere. The first person to give clear orders in an authoritative manner is likely to be followed. Agitators can exploit a crowd's mood and convert a group of frustrated, resentful people into a vengeful mob. Skillful agitators using television, radio, and other communications media can reach large portions of the population and incite them to unlawful acts without having direct personal contact. In a civil-disturbance environment, any crowd can be a threat to law and order because it is open to manipulation.

K-8. Additionally, crowd behavior may be affected by emotional contagion or panic.

• Emotional contagion provides the crowd psychological unity. The unity is usually temporary, but it may be long enough to push a crowd to mob action. When emotional contagion prevails, normal law and authority are suppressed, increasing the potential for violence.

• Panic can occur during a civil disturbance when-

  • Crowd members perceive their safety is at risk and attempt to flee the area.

  • Crowd members cannot disperse quickly after exposure to RCAs.

  • Escape routes are limited.

  • Escape routes are blocked or congested.

K-9. Control force members are also susceptible to crowd behavior. They may become emotionally stimulated during a tense confrontation. Commanders must counteract this. Control force members must exercise restraint individually and collectively. Rigorous training, firm and effective supervision, and complete awareness and understanding of ROE and ROI are necessary to offset the effect of crowd contagion on the control force.

K-10. In civil disturbances, crowds employ any number of tactics to resist control or to achieve their goals. Tactics may be unplanned or planned and nonviolent or violent. The more purposeful the disturbance, the more likely the possibility of well-planned tactics.

K-11. Nonviolent tactics may range from name-calling to building barricades. Demonstrators may converse with control force members to distract them or to gain their sympathy. They may try to convince control force members to leave their posts and join the demonstrators. Demonstrators may use verbal abuse. Expect obscene remarks, taunts, ridicule, and jeers. Crowd members want to anger and demoralize the opposition. They want authorities to take actions that later may be exploited as acts of brutality.

K-12. Sometimes women, children, and elderly people are placed in the front ranks. This plays on a control force's sympathy to try to discourage countermeasures. When countermeasures are taken, agitators take photographs to stir public displeasure and embarrass the control force. Demonstrators may form human blockades to impede traffic by sitting down in roads or at the entrances to buildings. This can disrupt normal activity, forcing control personnel to physically remove the demonstrators. Demonstrators may lock arms, making it hard for the control force to separate and remove them. It also makes the control force seem to be using excessive force.

K-13. Groups of demonstrators may trespass on private or government property. They want to force mass arrests, overwhelm detainment facilities, and clog the legal system. Demonstrators may resist by going limp and forcing control force members to carry them. They may chain or handcuff themselves to objects or to each other. This prolongs the demonstration. Agitators may spread rumors to incite the crowd and try to force the control force to use stronger measures to control or disperse the crowd. The agitators want to make the control force appear to be using excessive force. Terrorist groups may try to agitate crowds as a diversion for terrorist acts. They also try to provoke an overreaction by the control force.

K-14. Violent crowd tactics, which may be extremely destructive, can include physical attacks on people and property, fires, and bombings. Crowd use of violent tactics is limited only by the attitudes and ingenuity of crowd members, the training of their leaders, and the materials available to them. Crowd or mob members may commit violence with crude, homemade weapons, or they may employ sophisticated small arms and explosives. If unplanned violence occurs, a crowd will use rocks, bricks, bottles, or whatever else is at hand. If violence is planned, a crowd can easily conceal makeshift weapons or tools for vandalism. They may carry—

• Balloons filled with paint to use as bombs.

• Bolt cutters to cut through fences.

• Picket signs to be used as clubs.

• Pipes wrapped in newspapers to throw as deadly missiles.

• Firecrackers dipped in glue and covered with BBs or small nails to use as deadly grenades.

• Plywood shields and motorcycle helmets to protect against riot batons.

• Safety goggles to protect against tear gas.

K-15. A crowd may erect barricades to impede troop movement or to prevent a control force from entering certain areas or buildings. They may use vehicles, trees, furniture, fences, or any other material. In an effort to breach barriers, rioters may throw grapples into wire barricades and drag them. They may use grapples, chains, wire, or rope to pull down gates or fences. Long poles or spears may be used to keep control forces back while removing barricades or to prevent the use of bayonets. They also may crash vehicles into gates or fences to breach them.

K-16. Rioters can be expected to vent their emotions on individuals, troop formations, and control-force equipment. Rioters may throw rotten fruits and vegetables, rocks, bricks, bottles, improvised bombs, or other objects from overpasses, windows, and roofs. In the past, troops, firefighters, and utility workers on duty during a civil disorder have been beaten, injured, or killed. Vehicles have been overturned, set on fire, or otherwise damaged.

K-17. Rioters may direct dangerous objects like vehicles, carts, barrels, and liquids at troops located on or at the bottom of a slope. On level ground, they may drive wheeled vehicles at the troops, jumping out before the vehicles reach the target. This tactic is also used to breach roadblocks and barricades.

K-18. Rioters may set fire to buildings and vehicles to block the advance of troops. Fires are also set to create confusion or diversion, destroy property, and mask looting and sniping. Rioters may flood an area with gasoline or oil and ignite it. On the other hand, they may pour gasoline or oil down a slope or drop it from buildings and ignite it.

K-19. Weapons fire against troops may take the form of selective sniping or massed fire. The fire may come from within the ranks of the rioters or from buildings or other adjacent cover. The weapons used can vary from homemade one-shot weapons to high-powered rifles. Snipers may try to panic control force members into firing a volley into the crowd. Innocent casualties make a control force appear both undisciplined and oppressive.

K-20. Explosives may be used to breach a dike, levee, or dam. Bombs can be exploded ahead of troops or vehicles so rubble blocks a street. They can be used to block an underpass by demolishing the overhead bridge. In extremely violent confrontations, bombs placed in buildings may be timed to explode when troops or vehicles are near. Demolition charges can be buried in streets and exploded as troops or vehicles pass over them. Explosive-laden vehicles can be rolled or driven at troops. Rioters may attach explosives to animals and force them toward troops. They then detonate the explosives by remote control. Even harmless looking objects like cigarette lighters and toys can be loaded with explosives and used as weapons.

K-21. Normally, civil-disturbance operations are conducted at company level. The company operations section coordinates for special equipment that includes the following:

• Kevlar and face shield.

• Body armor.

• Shields, work gloves, and batons.

• Protective masks.

• Elbow pads.

• Shin guards.

• Weapons and bayonets.

• CS/OC spray.

• Smoke grenades.

• Breaching ramps.

• Scaling ladders.

• Portable radios.

• Portable lighting.

• Bullhorns.

• Video home system (VHS) cameras to videotape individuals in the crowd for identification.

• Transportation assets to move people to detention cells or detention areas.

• Hand and leg irons and flex cuffs.

• NVDs.

K-22. The MP operations center also coordinates for support, to include medical and emergency operations center (EOC) personnel, SRTs, hostage negotiators, MWD teams, PSYOP, civil affairs, local or HN law enforcement personnel, and apprehension or detention facilities for civilian personnel.

K-23. Rehearsals are imperative to the overall success of suppressing civil disturbances even before they occur. Rehearsals should cover the use and employment of nonlethal munitions, practice situations in which ROE or the use of force is applied, the use of riot dispensers, hand and arm signals or voice commands, and formations.

K-24. MP use appropriate crowd control measures that include formations such as—

• Using the line formation to push or drive a crowd straight back.

• Using the echelon formation to turn or move crowds away from buildings, fences, or walls.

• Using the wedge formation penetrate and split a crowd.

• Using the diamond formation to enter a crowd.

K-25. When a small unit, normally a squad, moves a dignitary through a crowd or an apprehension team into a crowd, they generally use the diamond formation. The other formations are trained at squad level and above but are normally performed by a platoon or company. The line, echelon left or right, and wedge formations are the basis for platoon and company formations. A squad must be skilled in the basic formations before practicing in platoon-size or larger formations.

K-26. Refer to FM 19-15 for more information about civil-disturbance techniques and procedures.

K-27. Nonlethal munitions are explicitly designed and primarily employed to incapacitate personnel or material, while minimizing fatalities, permanent injury to personnel, and undesired damage to property and the environment. Unlike conventional lethal munitions that destroy their targets through blast, penetration, and fragmentation, nonlethal munitions employ means other than gross physical destruction to prevent the target from functioning.

K-28. The doctrine and concepts of operation for nonlethal weapons are designed to reinforce deterrence and expand the range of options available to commanders. They enhance the capability of US forces to accomplish the following objectives:

• Discourage, delay, or prevent hostile actions.

• Limit escalation.

• Take military action in situations where the use of lethal force is not the preferred option.

• Protect our forces better.

• Disable equipment, facilities, and personnel temporarily.

K-29. Nonlethal munitions are not required to have a zero probability of producing fatalities or permanent injuries, and complete avoidance of these effects is not guaranteed or expected. When properly employed, nonlethal weapons should significantly reduce these effects when compared with using lethal weapons to physically destroy the same target.

K-30. Nonlethal capabilities provide a wider range of options that augment but do not replace traditional means of deadly force. The option to resort to deadly force must always remain available when the commander believes it is appropriate to the mission.

K-31. MP normally use the lowest level of force necessary to control most incidents that involve noncombatants. RCAs, such as CS and MWD, and crowd control devices, such as the riot baton, are examples of nonlethal means currently used by MP forces. These options are currently listed in AR 190-29 .

K-32. Training for the use of nonlethal munitions requires leaders and soldiers to understand the limited use of these systems in environments with restrictive ROE. Training will be continuous at all levels to ensure that nonlethal munitions are properly employed.

K-33. The countermeasures for thwarting virtually all nonlethal options are usually apparent, quickly learned, and readily available. Because they do not kill, nonlethal options teach an adversary what to avoid in the future. Commanders must be prepared to stay one step ahead of motivated belligerents. Many nonlethal options have both maximum effective and minimum safety ranges. Individuals struck short of the minimum safety range often suffer severe injuries or death, while the effects of most nonlethal devices are greatly mitigated at longer ranges. In order to be effective, an adversary must be engaged within the effective zone (beyond the minimum safety range and short of the maximum effective range).

K-34. Nonlethal munitions and equipment currently available are shown in Appendix L . Refer to Figure 3-2 for the range of the munitions.

K-35. Nonlethal munitions employment must be well documented in ROE. Leaders must constantly ensure that soldiers understand when and how to effectively employ them. Incorrect application of these munitions can have significant operational and political ramifications. Employment considerations include the following:

• Individual. When possible, do not change individual weapons. Designate individuals as nonlethal shooters. Nonlethal shooters carry lethal munitions only for personal protection. Carry lethal rounds in a place to avoid confusing nonlethal rounds with lethal rounds.

• Squad. Squad leaders carry stun grenades and maintain their weapon loaded with lethal ammunition. Ideally, the squad does not change their task organization to accommodate the addition of nonlethal equipment. They should designate nonlethal shooters instead.

• Patrols. Commanders do not plan a nonlethal patrol, but they plan a combat and security patrol with a nonlethal attachment when the mission dictates. Carrying a shotgun limits the flexibility an individual has because of the time it takes to transition from nonlethal to lethal. Use shotguns only from a fixed position where adequate coverage is available.

• Static position. Individuals on static positions have their weapons loaded with lethal ammunition, and additionally they carry nonlethal munitions. Both shotguns and M203s work well from static positions and are used together when possible.

• Contact teams. Teams of personnel whose primary responsibilities are to make personal contact with the adversary are established before deployment. Train team members in unarmed self-defense, open-hand control, handcuffing, and flex cuffing. Equip contact teams with personal protection gear, 9-millimeter pistols, and flex cuffs. Due to the physical nature of contact teams, do not arm contact team members with long rifles. If security for the contact team is an issue, attach a security element. MWD teams may also augment contact teams to help locate the adversary. Refer to FM 90-40 for more information on nonlethal techniques and procedures.