Protest? Police are getting Ready for you

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Protest? Police are getting Ready for you

HARRISONBURG - In a secluded gravel lot off Mosby Road Wednesday, about 20 Harrisonburg police officers in riot gear were pelted with rocks, tennis balls and the occasional 2-by-4.

In this case, the rioters weren't hoodlums looking for trouble. They were some of the police department's highest-ranking officers helping to train part of HPD's newest team - a 40-member Civil Disturbance Unit.

Although many officers are trained in crowd containment and dispersal methods each year, officers say it's better to have a team in place just in case one is needed.

But, they say, it's unlikely the Harrisonburg unit will be used much.
"It's better to have it and never need it, than need it and not have it," said Harrisonburg police Lt. Tom Hoover.

The idea to train officers to deal with riot situations started in the late 1990s in preparation for Y2K, when some government officials around the country were worried mass chaos would break loose if computers stopped working.

After Y2K proved to be a non-event, the Harrisonburg department continued to train a small portion of its force each year.

Cpl. Joe Palaskey said it's time for Harrisonburg to take the next step to keep pace with the need to control large crowds.

The city's population continues to grow, as has the student enrollment at James Madison University. JMU projects it will have about 21,500 students by 2013, which compares to around 18,000 who enrolled for the 2008-09 school year.

In addition, the university plans on expanding Bridgeforth Stadium to seat more than 20,000 people, up from its current capacity of about 15,000.
"As the city grows, we felt that we needed a full-time team in the city," Palaskey said.

Gearing Up
For the past week, half the newly formed team spent every day studying the legal aspects of crowd control and practicing methods for looting suppression, crowd extractions, building searches and officer rescue.

Palaskey said one of the lessons taught over the week deals with what protesters are allowed to do and what they can't do.

For example, he said, if protesters start a sit-in in the middle of a road it would be a violation of a city ordinance dealing with impeding traffic.

Officers faced with such a situation would initially ask the protesters to move their demonstration to the sidewalks.

"Our goal isn't to stop protests, we want to make sure it's a lawful protest," Palaskey said.

But, if things get out of hand, HPD officers have plenty of resources to help break up a crowd.

Further along in the training, officers were trained how to use shields and what to do if someone grabs one.

In extreme circumstances, Sgt. Carl Cline said the unit could use tear gas.
"Our biggest deterrent are the chemical munitions," Cline said.

They also have an assortment of other non-lethal weapons, including a gun that shoots rubber bullets.

Unlike tear gas, Cline said, rubber bullets wouldn't be used on an entire crowd.

"We wouldn't target a crowd," he said. "It's usually [reserved] for an initiator."

Tactics Rarely Used
While a 40-member team is now in place, Palaskey said it's unlikely that it will be called upon often. In fact, the last time city police had to bust out the riot gear was a decade ago.

In 2000, JMU's annual return-to-school block party, an off-campus event on Village Lane, got out of hand.

At one point, about 2,500 people gathered in the streets, throwing beer bottles and lighting a Dumpster on fire.

Police in riot gear, who were bombarded with bottles, used tear gas to break up the crowd. About 20 arrests followed in the days to come.

Since then, the annual party has been calm, leading police to believe the unit won't be needed when the Dukes return later this month.

"Every year, it seems to be getting better and better," Palaskey said.

In addition to large parties, officers say they must be prepared for large sporting events and unexpected protests that might get spin out of control.

"You don't want to panic," Hoover said. "The unknown always scares people. People are less likely to panic if they are trained properly."

Palaskey pointed to last October's unexpected campaign stop at JMU by then presidential hopeful Barack Obama. He said officers were only given a few days to prepare for the capacity crowd of about 8,000 at JMU's Convocation Center. Officers didn't know how many people would show up, or if protesters would try to disrupt the rally.

But, Palaskey said, the CDU ensures that the department is prepared for most situations.

"Forty well-trained people can really handle a crowd," he said. "We want to be trained to handle anywhere from 10 to 10,000 people, or more."



Harrisonburg Police Lt. Tom Hoover acts as a protester during training for the department's Civil Disturbance Unit on Wednesday.


Police Officer Sarah Dove (left) practices a shin-scraping technique with Officer Chris Shaver.


Harrisonburg Police Officer C.M. Grubbs (right) deflects the advances of Officer Tony Hermes in an exercise during civil disturbance training on Wednesday.