Training

Our specialty is to educate commanders, Instructors and unit officers in the New Way of Crowd Management.

We offer specialized courses:

- Commanders course

- Instructor course

- Unit training theory and practice (Basic and Advanced Courses)

With these courses comes our Specialist Certification and the offer of a free refresh course day (excl. travel expenses)


Public Order Management Program Overview:
1. The core principle of Public Order Management is that the vast majority of crowds that gather are law-abiding citizens who are legally exercising their rights to protest and voice their concerns and beliefs. This understanding should be the basis of any lawful protest, and we must remember that we all took an oath to “Serve and Protect” and that oath includes protecting protestors and their right to lawfully protest.


2. Understanding that a group has a certain behavior is one thing, but knowing “Why” it behaves the way it does is the key to understanding “how” to deal with these people not only as a group but as individuals. A group of any sort is made up of individuals; individuals with certain behaviors and characteristics. Understanding this allows us to use a variety of proven procedures and academic models, such as the Elaborated Social Identity Model, so we can begin to understand groups and start to predict how they may behave.


3. Communication and information is and will always be the key to prevention; de-escalation or if needed; confrontation and containment. It is therefore imperative that we understand the best way to effectively communicate. We must ensure that we are using the right type of communication to successfully reach our goal of preventing the situation from escalating into violence. Far too often, our Crowd Control Units are taught an ineffective way of communicating that ultimately has the opposite effect of what they are trying to accomplish. How we communicate is paramount, and because of that we must “Change the Tune!”


4. Appearance through a show of force vs less-visible response and actions should all be reviewed, altered and in many cases, redefined. Studies over the last few decades show that facing all these instances as threats and appearing as a hostile counter force often causes an escalation to violence, and that ultimately is a failure. We however must protect our officers with every available option that we can, but how do we do that without showing up as an adversarial force, no matter what the instance is? We have to consider the best practices of Public Order Management and the findings of the research and change our mind-sets; our overall approach and ultimately how we appear to the populace.


5. Last but not least...why?! Well, we are living in an age where Law Enforcement is under constant observation and scrutiny from the public and the media. We are fighting to do our job, all the while everyone is ready to judge our every move; and whether we are right or wrong, we end up defending our actions against the internet and social media. Because of this, we have to change our approach, but we cannot forget what we are there to do and still maintain the safety of our officers and the public we are there to protect. To make these changes we have to train our people from the top to the bottom and give them the tools they need to be successful in TODAY’s environment; not using antiquated techniques, equipment and procedures. Let’s make sure we train to a standard that keeps everyone on the same level operationally and gives no one the ammunition to scrutinize our actions or our people who are just trying to do their job and return home safely to their families.

Course Topics:
• Decision-making model - a look at the model currently seen as best practice throughout Europe and currently being used by many other countries as the best practice model for decision-making.

• Communication - a look at the various ways in which we can communicate with protest groups and the impact of social media on a public order event

• Disorder model - another best practice model for assessing the mood of a group or community

• Tactical options- looking at all the options which may be available to law enforcement in crowd management from barriers and cops in normal uniform right through to chemical munitions and guys in protective equipment with shields

• Command and control - how we manage events and options for command structures

• Crowd dynamics - worldwide best practice on the ways crowds behave and options for how best to deal with them

• Audit trails - how we record our decisions and rational for those decisions in a way that will stand up to the highest levels of scrutiny

• Table top exercise- bringing it all together.

 

Program Development Team:


POMA is internationally known as a leader in Public Order Management; it consists of an alliance of a team of subject-matter experts in the field of Public Order
Management. Dr. Tamara D. Herold of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Rene Gaemers (Batavae Training & Consultancy) out of the Netherlands and Neil Pollock
(Kestrel Training and Consultancy), retired Public Order Management Trainer and Tactical Advisor from The Metropolitan Police in London, UK. The team is constantly
working with colleagues from around the US/Canada and Europe to stay on top of the latest developments.


POMA offers all levels of Public Order training: from the basic Field Force style training through specialist training such as role specific evidence capture and liaison
officers to work with protest organizers before during and after an event; to classroom-based training for those who will command the POM events and the team
who will assist and support them.


POMA also offers the option to help recreate events to assist in debriefs or to develop new tactics. We also assist in assessing the existing Public Order program
and help tailor the program to fit the latest (inter-) national best practice. Or even assist in creating a completely new Public Order Management program.