Feminist Global Resistance will be posting a series of articles on techniques and safety tips for activists.

Our next article is, “Police Assets and Equipment – Understand them and Protect Yourself”, covers a variety of police tactics and equipment used during civil unrest.  Be prepared.  The police, in recent years, have been trained in military/war tactics and have the military tech to use against protestors.

We will discuss police equipment and military assets now used by police and ways to protect one’s self from harm caused by those assets.

To all activists, “dancing the streets” requires a knowledge of what one may encounter during any action. Be prepared for any event and stay vigilant.

If a riot or altercation ensues, get out and get out of the way.

If a comrade falls and is injured, be the first line of care. Help him/her out of the action zone and to a safe place, if possible. Stay with the injured person to assist with any immediate needs (Clearing gas from skin, mouth and eyes; Offering basic first aid, water) and help to keep the person calm. Ask someone to go for help from a street medic or any trained person. If necessary, call an EMT.

Remember, we are in this together so together we help each other.

Activism can be fun but it is serious business – take care of yourself and each other.

As always: Be prepared for confrontation and keep it safe out there!

 

Police Assets and Equipment – Understand them and Protect Yourself

 

 

The Militarization of the Police – use of military assets by U.S. police (1944 Surplus Property Act, the 1208 Program and the 1033 Program)

After WWII, the US government found itself with huge supplies of weaponry and military equipment. The Surplus Property Act of 1944 (signed by FD Roosevelt) was passed in order to dispose of surplus equipment and materials thereby converting the US from a wartime to a peacetime economy.

In 1990, the Surplus property Act of 1944 was replaced by 1he 1208 Program (Section 1208 of National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991, signed by HW Bush) under the Department of Defense (DOD). “Section 1208-supported operations provide assistance to foreign forces, irregular forces, groups, or individuals engaged in supporting United States Special Operations Forces to combat terrorism”. The NDAA of 1990-1991 continued to keep military action and civil law enforcement apart as codified by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.

The 1208 Program, subsequently, became the 1033 Program under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 1997 ( under Bill Clinton) granting permanent authority to the Secretary of Defense to transfer defense material to federal and state agencies for use in law enforcement, particularly those associated with counter-drug and counter-terrorism activities.

Under 1033, the Clinton Administration and its DOD began providing surplus military equipment to state and local law enforcement. Nearly 18,000 police departments (including colleges & universities or school police departments) now have the access to weapons of war to use against the people of the US. After 9/11, this program accelerated – by 2020, over $7.4 billion of property has been transferred since the program’s inception.

Military Equipment

Police Departments around the US have access to every kind of Military Equipment short of large bombs.  This includes (but not limited to):

• Bazookas and grenade launchers

• Knives (to include bayonets)

• Military grade rifles and guns

• Tactical gear and uniforms

• Tactical vehicles – armored personal vehicles and MRAPS

• Water Cannons – High-pressure water hose streams, aimed at pushing back crowds, or low-pressure water hose streams, intended to douse, are common weapons used for crowd control. Mobile water cannons have been used since the 1700’s against the public for crowd control, riots or to prevent people from getting into areas that are “forbidden”. A Water cannon refers to a mobile bladder (vehicle mounted device) or in-ground water supply.  A variety of sizes and types of hoses can be connected to the mobile water cannon and they can emit very powerful streams that can destabilize people and injure them. (We saw high-pressure water cannons used in freezing weather against Water Protectors, during the Standing Rock protests, driving the protestors into the river, many protestors having skin and tissue flayed, cutting down to bone). High-pressure water cannons can have flow rates of up to 20 litres (5 1/4 gallons) of water per second, with an operating pressure of 15 bar (220 psi), and can send water 67 metres or approx. 220 feet.

Mobile water cannons may carry chemicals in bladders to combine with the water spray to include tear gasses, dyes or other chemicals – This is becoming more popular recently since it can disburse large quantities hitting huge numbers of protestors by a minimum of personnel. In recent years, colored dyes (semi-permanent and/or ultraviolet) have been added in order to mark protestors for later arrest or to mark them for public harassment (used in India, Indonesia, Israel, Hungary, Northern Ireland, South Africa, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Uganda).

Injuries can create trauma directly to the outer part of the body and internal injuries to include. Some reported injuries include:

• • Facial injuries such as blindness or eardrum rupture due to the high velocity of the stream of water,
  • Contusions, skull fractures and lacerations during falls as a secondary to the blunt force of high-velocity water cannons as protestors fall or are thrown against hard objects, walls or other obstacles and musculoskeletal injuries from close-range exposure.

• Sound Cannons or LRADs –  Long Range Acoustic Device is a speaker system and sound energy weapon that is focused on a crowd to, either, give direction, or as a weapon to cause pain to disable activists.

As a weapon, it can produce what is called a  “deterrent tone” based on frequencies that are especially painful to the human ear.  It targets the eardrums, hair cells, and organs of Corti inside your ears and, for those within 25 ft, can produce pain and injury, especially for children, the elderly, and those with previous injuries.

These sounds can cause stress and distraction, and make communication among protesters more difficult but they can also cause:

• • a sensation of stuffed or ringing ears, known as tinnitus, which can cease minutes after the exposure or last for days,
  • headaches,
  • nausea,
  • sweating,
  • vertigo,
  • loss of balance.
  • Signs of more serious injury include vomiting and mucus or blood from the ears.
  • Exposure to acute loud sounds can tear eardrums and destroy hair cells in the cochlea, which causes permanent hearing loss.

Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) G20 Pittsburgh used September 24-25th, 2009

 

 

• Chemical Irritants (See  “Activist Action Series! Dealing with Tear Gas (CN, CS, & OC)“
• Kinetic impact projectiles (KIPs) – Shot from firearms, KIPS are bullet-like missiles to inflict pain. Also called “Baton Rounds”, they include:
  • Plastic – “foam-tipped plastic bullets”, “plastic baton rounds”, “sponge grenades”, “Flashball rounds”
  • Metal – “rubber-coated metal bullets”, “pellets”, “birdshot”, “flexible baton rounds”, “bean bag rounds”, “Super-Sock”
  •  Other materials to include wood or rock salt

Historically, KIPs were developed in the 1880’s as a part of the colonial policing of the British Empire (India, Middle East, Shanghai, Africa). Today, KIPs have found widespread use in both everyday policing and crowd control.

In spite of design efforts to reduce lethality, KIPs can cause serious injury, permanent disability and death if they impact critical parts of the body with significant force. 

Injury from KIPs depend on a number of factors to include the type of projectile, the weapon it is shot from, the distance from which the shot is fired, the user’s skill and the inherent imprecision of the weapon itself. The severity of injury from these projectiles is dependent on the energy on impact, the  design (including caliber and shape) and the characteristics of the target tissue. Most KIPs are propelled by a powder charge thereby making the weapon used a category of “firearm” – Like all firearm injuries, they can be penetrating or non-penetrating.

KIPs can cause serious injury, disability and death. (Scott Olsen, Occupy Oakland, was intentionally shot in the head with a Beanbag projectile leaving him in critical condition on the street. When others tried to assist, police shot teargas cannisters at the group trying to prevent them from assisting him.  When I met him, he had suffered severe TBI from the fractured skull he received from the beanbag.  He walked with a cane now and his speech suffered as well but he was back out in the streets with Occupy as soon as he could get there.)

• Disorientation or Distraction Devices – Including stun grenades, flash-bang grenades, blast balls, sting ball grenades, stinger grenades, lasers and concussion grenades.

These devices are usually constructed like conventional grenades and typically emit a noise or bright flash due to the rapid oxidation of a pyrophoric metal, such as magnesium or aluminum. This oxidation process can generate temperatures in excess of 3000° Celsius  or 5432° Fahrenheit (Keep in mind water boils at 100° Celsius or 212° Fahrenheit at sea level; Pottery kilns fire pottery between 1093.333° Celsius or 2000° Fahrenheit and 1315.556° Celsius or 2400° Fahrenheit; Propane torch burns at roughly 1900° Celsius or 3452° Fahrenheit.).When he device detonates, the case ruptures with significant force –  individuals standing near he explosion may suffer traumatic injury from overpressure; high-velocity metal or plastic fragments (shrapnel) are sent in multiple directions and that shrapnel can injure anyone within their range.

Injury from these devices include:

• • Blast injuries to include the possibility of lead to internal hemorrhage, eardrum rupture, lung injury, amputation, fractures and degloving injuries (extensive skin removal that exposes underlying tissue)
  • Sting ball grenades are designed to create shrapnel over the blast area and can cause penetrating injuries, skull fracture, severe ocular trauma and enucleation.
  • Stun grenades and other hot grenades can cause  life-threatening thermal injuries and fires in structures that, in turn, can injure or kill anyone within or by the structure. If fired by a grenade launcher directly at a person, can completely disable or kill the person

Be Prepared:

Smaller protests and rallies, especially those which have received permits, usually do not encounter extreme resistance from Police, but what may have been presented as a peaceful march or rally, may turn violent if confronted by counter-protestors, agent provocateurs or militant police forces. Some of us seen a protests as small as 10 activists turn bloody and result in arrests when outside parties try to involve themselves and/or the Police have been ordered to shut it down.

Larger actions of civil disobedience always draw the Police and can result in violence on a small scale or a large scale.

Always be prepared.  We have discussed recommendations for attire and personal preparations for protests and actions, but we will review them here and add optional items in the event one feels they will be exposed to military technology now used by police

All activists should:

• Carry or wear protective, shatter resistant eye wear (preferably goggles);
• Remove any contact lenses;
• Avoid the use of any oil based products on the skin to include lotions, body oils, ointments, and soaps;
• Bathe and wash hair before the action again avoiding any product that will leave oils on skin or hair;
• Avoid wearing make-up;
• Apply sunscreen only to prevent sunburn that could be exasperated by contact with tear gas;
• Carry at least one bottle of clean water;
• Carry an extra change of clothing;
• Wear long sleeves, long pants, socks, boots (or other shoes that are comfortable and protective), hats or any head covering (keffiyehs or shemaghs – learn more about wearing/tying a Keffiyeh here );
• Wear face masks (N95s or KN95s are the best but if not available, multiple layers of medical/surgical masks fit closely to the face or a gas mask, properly fitted), bandanas (in layers), or any scarf that can protect the area between the eyes and chin;
• And carry an emergency inhaler (either prescription or one of the effective over the counter asthma inhalers).

In addition to the above list, please consider:

• • Safety padding or body armor – If the police have it, why shouldn’t we? Padding or body armor aren’t the heavy bulky products one might remember from 1980’s High School sports or Robocop movies. It is getting lean and lightweight but it isn’t cheap. Quality wear can run into the hundreds of dollars.  But it  will help to protect against batons  as well as KIPs and grenade explosions
  • Hard hat or helmet
  • Shatterproof goggles – ski, swimming, or construction goggles protecting against shrapnel, gases and irritants
  • Gas Mask
  • Ear plugs or canal caps -one can wear construction or protective earmuffs but they are bulky and might become more cumbersome than comfortable
  • Umbrella or shield – a newer symbol of action but effective for deflecting aerosols and gases as well as hiding coordination of activists and immediate strategies, hand signals and supplies passed forward to the front lines.  (Seattle BLM used these very effectively to hide fireworks, as well as caring for front line minor injuries, passing information and quick planning sessions). Shields further protect the activist but, also, help protect the front lines when used in unison.

 

We are living in interesting times, my sisters and brothers
Be safe and take care so we all can fight again tomorrow

As always,

Love and solidarity