Event Risk Management Drills
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From the five boroughs of N.Y.C., sixty soulless monsters came, not knowing each other, they all found each other all in agreement: water all the women with ICE and bring them to tears. —POEM FROM “CENTRAL PARK: WATER FIGHT, FLIGHT AND TEARS,” 2000
The Crowd Control in Events
IN THIS CHAPTER, WE WILL EXPLORE:
Ø The history and types of crowd control
Ø The sociology of crowd control
Ø The lessons learned from crowd control disasters
Ø The different types of crowds
Ø Various theories of crowd control and management
Ø Some of the ways to control crowds
• When people riot, they cause a great deal of destruction to both property and life.
• They also create negative impressions of the event destination, which become part of that area’s collective memory.
• An event remains etched in a locale’s collective memory long after the event has ended.
• When an event is not managed correctly, post event damage control can be more expensive than proper risk planning and control.
• One negative event can influence other events that occur in the same locale.
Parades, demonstrations, and sports events are not the only crowd management challenges facing event risk managers.
Event risk managers are keenly aware that almost any event can quickly change from leisurely fun to chaos and even death.
In fact, in the 1990s over 150 people died at rock concerts. All events—sports events, concerts, young people’s “happenings,” political rallies, to name a few—may degenerate from orderly gatherings into disorder, chaos, and riots.
All event risk managers must understand how an orderly crowd can be transformed into an angry mob. They should also know how mobs work and what precautions can be taken, in conjunction with security professionals and law enforcement officials, to ensure that an orderly event does not disintegrate into a destructive mob.
While all crowd control has similar components, Figure 4.1 shows how these “human hurricanes” can be classified.
classical thought concerning how crowds develop, gain power, and have the potential to move from an orderly assembly of hu- man beings into an uncontrollable mob. Canetti builds his premise on the following principles of the crowd:
! Humans have a desire and a fear of being touched by the unknown.
! To deal with the fear of being touched, humans set bound- aries.
! In crowds, there is a loss of fear of being touched: Crowds create equality. There are no distinctions in a crowd. Crowds have tendencies to grow. Open crowds have no boundaries.
In other words, when we find ourselves within a crowd, we both enjoy the contact and, at the same time, fear it. Being sur- rounded by people can be reassuring; however, on the other hand, sociologists have long recognized the concept of the “urban blasé.” To understand an example of Simmel’s theory, one only has to ob- serve people on an elevator or on crowded public transportation
Sociology of the Crowd 89
Type of Incident Contributing Factors
Festivals (music festivals) Drugs, alcohol, sudden noises, fighting, gunfire
Political Speeches, planned violence, drugs, gunfire
Street events Alcohol, drugs, boredom, fighting, sexual acts
Sport events Alcohol, drugs, boredom, fighting, sexual acts
Student events/parties Alcohol, drugs, sexual promiscuity, tolerance by authorities
Figure 4-1 Event Crowd Control Factors
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To manage crowds, the risk manager must first have an understanding of the sociology of the crowd.
We will first look at the sociology of a crowd and investigate how crowds be- come mobs. Then we will examine some of the techniques used in controlling crowds and some of the resources for orderly crowd control such as fire prevention.
Sociology of the Crowd The Nobel Prize–winning author, Elias Canetti, has written the great classic on understanding crowds. Canetti’s book, titled Crowds and Power.
In his book, he was concerning about how crowds develop, gain power, and have the potential to move from an orderly assembly of human beings into an uncontrollable mob.
classical thought concerning how crowds develop, gain power, and have the potential to move from an orderly assembly of hu- man beings into an uncontrollable mob. Canetti builds his premise on the following principles of the crowd:
! Humans have a desire and a fear of being touched by the unknown.
! To deal with the fear of being touched, humans set bound- aries.
! In crowds, there is a loss of fear of being touched: Crowds create equality. There are no distinctions in a crowd. Crowds have tendencies to grow. Open crowds have no boundaries.
In other words, when we find ourselves within a crowd, we both enjoy the contact and, at the same time, fear it. Being sur- rounded by people can be reassuring; however, on the other hand, sociologists have long recognized the concept of the “urban blasé.” To understand an example of Simmel’s theory, one only has to ob- serve people on an elevator or on crowded public transportation
Sociology of the Crowd 89
Type of Incident Contributing Factors
Festivals (music festivals) Drugs, alcohol, sudden noises, fighting, gunfire
Political Speeches, planned violence, drugs, gunfire
Street events Alcohol, drugs, boredom, fighting, sexual acts
Sport events Alcohol, drugs, boredom, fighting, sexual acts
Student events/parties Alcohol, drugs, sexual promiscuity, tolerance by authorities
Figure 4-1 Event Crowd Control Factors
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• Canetti builds his premise on the following principles of the crowd:
• Humans have a desire and a fear of being touched by the unknown.
• To deal with the fear of being touched, humans set boundaries.
• In crowds, there is a loss of fear of being touched:
v Crowds create equality.
v There are no distinctions in a crowd.
v Crowds have tendencies to grow.
v Open crowds have no boundaries.
In other words, when we find ourselves within a crowd, we both enjoy the contact and, at the same time, fear it.
To understand an example of Simmel’s theory, one only has to observe people on an elevator or on crowded public transportation such as a subway car. Note how no one looks another person in the eye. We are there; yet we set an artificial boundary around us.
In crowds, we accept the fact that we will be bumped into by others.
Eyes rarely meet; we do not smile at the next person.
Canetti’s theory provides the event risk manager with five major attributes of a crowd:
• Crowds want to grow.
• Crowds create equality.
• Crowds seek to become denser.
• Crowds move and seek direction.
• Stagnant crowds seek rhythm or discharge.
• These attributes are essential in understanding the basics of crowd control.
Types of Crowds The French author Gustave Le Bon has dedicated much of his scholarship to the study of crowds. Le Bon divides crowds into two main categories: the heterogeneous crowd and the homogeneous crowd. The heterogeneous crowd is composed of the following:
• The anonymous crowd, for example, street crowds
• The planned crowd, for example, assemblies and juries.
Likewise, the homogeneous crowd is composed of the following:
• Sects, such as political or religious
• Castes, such as the military or working caste
• Classes, such as economic classes in socially fluid societies
• (LeBon, 1895, p. 156)
From the perspective of event risk management, we will only concern ourselves with the first of his subcategories, that is, the anonymous crowd.
Le Bon’s basic argument is that people in crowds are open to suggestive behaviour that is highly different from the way they would act as mere individuals.
Perhaps of greater value to the modern event risk manager is the work accomplished by Elias Canetti. Canetti presents us with a much more sophisticated view of crowds, dividing the crowd into such groupings as:
The invisible crowd. The crowd that forms to represent a dead person and soon turns into a riot.
The bating crowd. The crowd that forms for a specific goal, which is clearly marked and easily obtainable. The lynching mob is an example of this type of crowd.
The fleeing crowd. The crowd that perceives a threat and flees from it, often in panic. Risk managers should seek to avoid this type of crowd at all costs.
The prohibition crowd. The crowd that refuses to do what is asked, instead obeying a self-proposed prohibition. This type of crowd has often been viewed in a political context, but it can also be borne of a crowd that is coming for entertainment purposes and suddenly adopts a cause.
The reversal crowd. The crowd that seeks to overturn the political status quo. These crowds are defenceless but, due to their numbers, gain strength and often gain control.
The feast crowd. These are people, according to Canetti, who are in a crowd only to celebrate. They have no purpose other than to have a good time.
o Interestingly enough, Canetti also uses a number of symbols to understand crowds. Among his principal crowd symbols are fire, the sea, and the rivers (Canetti, 1973, pp. 75–90).
o Canetti sees fire as similar to a crowd: Fire spreads.
o On the other hand, he argues that crowds are like the sea: They are dense and cohesive, they are never entirely still, and, like the sea, while a crowd is alive it never sleeps.
o For Canetti, crowds are like rivers, because their origins are often taken more seriously than their goals.
Throughout this chapter, we will be referring to different types of crowds. One way to understand crowd types is to borrow from the tourism sciences some of that discipline’s relevant theories. Following you will find two other theories that will serve to help identify crowd types.
o In 1973, Stanley Plog first introduced what has come to be known as the Plog model of psychographic tourism
o This typology divides people along a continuum, ranging from the allocentric to the psychocentric.
Ø Plog tells us that the allocentric person is one who looks for “thrills” or adventure. He or she is a risk taker and is not afraid of danger.
Ø The other extreme is the psychocentric person. This is a person who tends to worry about his or her safety/security, takes few risks, and tends to be fearful.
It is useful to be able to determine into which quadrant a particular crowd falls as you attempt to predict the group’s future behaviour (Figure 4.3).
crowds at events that turn into riot situations tend to follow the above-stated principles. For example, let us examine the case of Michigan State University.
Soon after Michigan State University (MSU) lost to Duke Uni- versity in the semifinals of the NCAA basketball tournament on March 27–28, 1997, a student riot erupted. As reported in the Detroit News:
During the incident an estimated 10,000 people filled the streets of East Lansing, smashing store windows, igniting bonfires and burning cars. Damages were estimated at $240,000. The drunken crowd included students and visitors from around the state. A year earlier, students rioted when the MSU administration announced that
Types of Crowds 95
Allocentric Psychocentric
Wants excitement, will tend to Wants fun without danger, may be overly ignore security personnel’s cautious warnings
Free with money Is frugal with money, may worry about being overcharged
Bores easily, will not complain to Tends to complain about everything from security until after an incident has people watching him or her to atmospheric occurred conditions
Person will climb onto stage and Person wants to enjoy show and avoid crowds seek crowds
Troublemaker—wants to challenge Does not want to stir the pot or make trouble
Single Family oriented
Figure 4-2 Allocentric/Psychocentric Event Crowd Characteristics
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In May 2000, security officials, police officers, and tourism and event experts met to discuss issues of crowd control and risk management. The following is a list of the components of crowd problems that were shared by the Northwest Pacific coast beach communities.
components of crowd problems that were shared by the Northwest Pacific coast beach communities. The attendees noted that they were most likely to lose control of a crowd when it contained the following:
! Mainly young people. Conference attendees noted that as the proportion of young people grew within the total crowd, so did the potential for violence.
! Summer/good weather. Poor weather does not seem to be conducive to out-of-control situations. Nice pleasant weather means people are willing to be outdoors and are often look- ing for things to do. Again, it should be noted that the atten-
98 Chapter 4 Crowd Control
Fire Crowd
Can easily spread, tends to move Can easily spread, tends to move from place from place to place to place
Can develop suddenly Can develop suddenly
Can jump barriers Can jump barriers
Can be channeled for good Can be channeled for good purposes, but can purposes, but can get out of control, get out of control, leading to massive leading to massive destruction destruction/riots
Can be both brought under control Can be both brought under control and and tamed tamed
Recovery can be costly in both time Recovery of property is expensive; and money furthermore, a great deal of time and money
may be needed to recover an event’s or place’s reputation
Figure 4-4 Fires and Crowds: A Comparative Analysis
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The attendees noted that they were most likely to lose control of a crowd when it contained the following:
• Mainly young people. Conference attendees noted that as the proportion of young people grew within the total crowd, so did the potential for violence.
• Summer/good weather. Poor weather does not seem to be conducive to out- of-control situations. Nice pleasant weather means people are willing to be outdoors and are often looking for things to do.
• Alcohol.
• Large amounts of bored people. the large gatherings of people with no clear-cut direction or place to go can be a sign of trouble.
• Inadequate security. The larger and better trained the security force, the less likely that a crowd may transform itself into a mob.
• Darkness. While mob riots can occur at any time, darkness, when combined with alcohol, provides a sense of anonymity, leading to a lowering of inhibitions and contributing to the potential for a riot.
Controlling Crowds Understanding the sociology of a crowd and what turns crowds into mobs and/or causes panic is essential for a risk manager. It is important that each event risk manager develop his or her own specific list of “signs/signals”
That indicate that a “large gathering/assembly” is transforming itself into an unruly crowd/mob. For example, here are some common indications: • Introduction of alcohol or drugs into the crowd
• Loss of personhood; people moving into stampede mode
• Loss of inhibitions, such as public displays of nudity or partial nudity
• Lighting of fires or illegal acts of burning
• Division of the crowd into opposing factions
• Presence of weapons/guns
Event risk managers are expected to have invested a great amount of time understanding crowd control. As part of event risk managers’ training, they should invest some time developing expertise in such areas as:
• Crowd types. Not all crowds are the same. As discussed previously, crowds vary due to demographic makeup, raison d’être, time of year, and time of day.
• Crowd sociopsychology. After understanding the particular nature of a specific crowd, the risk manager can then use the principles of social psychology to predict behaviour and how resources need to be distributed. Within this category, the risk manager should have a good idea of the behaviour and culture of the type of crowd with which he or she is working.
• Legal issues in crowd control. How far can the risk manager go? What are the legal rights of the police and security officials? What are the parameters of the law within which he or she must operate?
• Crowd management tactics. It is essential that the risk manager think through each situation. Will signage work? Are loudspeakers and barriers necessary? Is this a crowd that builds fires? How much trash will be left behind and can trash turn into a safety hazard?
• Crowd control equipment. There are many firms offering equipment for crowd management. The event risk manager will be working within a limited budget. He or she must know which pieces of equipment are essential, which pieces have multitask uses, which pieces are prone to breakdowns, and which type of equipment will fit into the image that the event is trying to project.
• Use of force. The risk manager must know when and when not to use force.
• Biochemical risk management. It takes only small amounts of a biochemical substance to murder hundreds of people, including those in charge.
• Vehicular rescue. The event risk manager should have a good idea as to vehicular rescue techniques and should know how to set guidelines as to when a vehicle should or should not be rescued.
The question now becomes: What are the tools that event risk managers have at their disposal to control crowds and stymie crowds from progressively becoming more violent?
• Higher is better; never sit. You must be above the crowd’s level.
• Be the conductor and let the crowd be the band. Orchestrate how the crowd is to move
• Take control of time. Crowds have no sense of time, but those professionals in crowd control should know how long someone has been in a particular location.
• Use the fear of the “touch or being seized.” The higher the fear of touch, the more likely is the person prepared to follow orders.
• When possible, control using laughter rather than violence.
DEVELOPING CROWD CONTROL TEAMS Crowd control depends on teamwork. The event risk manager cannot afford to live in isolation. Crowd control begins with good planning and good networking.
The professional event risk manager should already have in place cooperative efforts with:
o Local law enforcement
o Event organizers
o The media
o Anyone who can provide historical or demographic information about the event that is to take place
! Anyone who can provide historical or demographic infor- mation about the event that is to take place
COLLECTING DATA
Good crowd control depends on good data. A family-oriented pic- nic or outing will need a very different type of crowd control than a rock concert aimed at teenagers. Historical facts do not mean that one need not continue to collect data. For example, a family- oriented event may be an invitation to those seeking to provoke
Controlling Crowds 105
! Extra police, some working undercover. The greater the number of crowd control professionals, the greater the chances that nothing will happen.
! Alcohol-free events. The creation of alcohol-free alternatives is often seen as a way of diverting those who might get caught up in the crowd. It will not stop someone intent on causing trouble.
! Positive information. In the case of a university event, large numbers who will attend the event are part of a semistable population. The more information people have about what will not be tolerated, the greater the number of people who will obey the law. Small disturbances are a lot easier to control than large riots.
! Tailgate hours and sites. Take control of time. If authorities have control over how long an event can last there is a higher probability for successful crowd control.
! Dry activities. These are activities where the school pairs incoming freshmen with upperclassmen for “dry” activities. This method will only work if the first-year student admires the senior.
! Notification. Central Michigan and Michigan Tech will notify parents if underage students are caught drinking or if other alcohol policies are violated.
! Communications. The University of Connecticut has improved communications between police and students to help prevent riots during Spring Weekend.
! Economic power. Emory University in Atlanta took over maintenance and billing of fraternity houses, raised rents by 25 percent, and hired live-in house directors.
Figure 4-6 Sample University Event Crowd Management Control Techniques
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COLLECTING DATA • Good crowd control depends on good data. • Historical facts do not mean that one need not continue to collect data.
It is essential that plans be developed in which event risk management teams will know what to do so as to:
• Monitor the event: prior, during, and after
• Establish and maintain control of local and personal property
• Develop smooth traffic flows and know where to use and not to use barriers
• Protect life and property
• Know whom to call upon to arrest, guard, transport, and process those who
may cause illegal disturbances while staying within the confines of due process
• Use physical force and know how much force is appropriate
• Produce an orderly evacuation
• Keep access to and from property/city streets/other parts of a park or field
open
• Rescue officers and civilians from building, street, and vehicle
environments
• Deal with the media and designate a spokesperson
• Call upon medical personnel as needed
1.Never assume that the organizational chart is clear to everyone. Make sure that each person on the crowd control team knows who is responsible for:
• Deploying personnel and equipment
• Obtaining intelligence for the smooth running of the event
• Determining the need for and the request for aid
• Assigning tasks and redeploying personnel
• Working with other agencies and/or organizations
• Performing triage (i.e., if only a few things can be saved, who
determines what is let go and what is saved)
Effective crowd control also means that event risk managers must be aware of what the public needs to do to protect itself at events. Following is a partial list of precautions that event risk managers can take:
• Monitor sexual assaults. Crowds are a great way for people to touch other people inappropriately. Make sure that there are people not only watching for sexual assaults, but also easily identifiable as capable of taking reports and responding in an appropriate manner.
• Monitor drugs and alcohol. Drugs and alcohol make people lose their common sense and do things that can lead to physical security issues.
• Encourage people to carry identification cards with them. People should have id cards listing their names, telephone numbers, and addresses.
• Get injured people to trained medical personnel as quickly as is safe and possible. Make sure that there is a full written report taken of all injuries, treatments, and reasons for medical decisions.
• Move people to the edge of the crowd. If crowd crushes or “moshing” should occur, move people to the edge of the crowd as soon as possible. Be careful of walls and unmovable barricades.
• Avoid general admission. It is best to avoid the standing room-only sections as trouble can often begin in one of these areas.
• Monitor for signs of dehydration. Younger people, especially people at concerts and at the beach, become so wrapped up in the events that they forget to consume enough liquids.
Event Risk Management Key Terms • Allocentric person: A person who tends to seek the unusual or the
adventurous. • Anonymous crowd: A crowd in which people do not necessarily know each
other. • Bating crowd: A crowd that forms for a specific goal, which is clearly
marked and easily obtainable, for example, a lynch mob. • Fleeing crowd: A crowd that perceives a threat and flees from it, often in
panic. Risk managers should seek to avoid them at all costs. • Heterogeneous crowd: A crowd composed of people who do not necessarily
share a common heritage. • Homogeneous crowd: A crowd composed of people who share a common
heritage such as religion or a political affiliation. • Moshing environment: Where people, among other things, slam into each
other at rock concerts. It can vary in volatility and crowd mood.
• Prohibition crowd: A crowd that refuses to do what is asked, instead obeying a self-proposed prohibition.
• Psychocentric person: A person who tends toward the sedate or is highly careful in where he or she goes or what he or she does.
• Reversal crowd: A crowd that seeks to overturn the political status quo. These crowds are defenceless but, due to their numbers, gain strength and often gain control.
• Wilding: The practice of taking a woman’s blouse off against her will. A sign that a crowd may be turning into a riot.
• Planned crowd: A crowd that has been developed by design, for example, assemblies and juries.
Event Risk Management Drills
1. Assume that you are to host a specific ethnic parade. How would you prepare for it? With whom would you consult? What other community resources might you call upon?
2. You are the risk manager at a major hotel and have just learned that a famous musical group will be coming to your hotel. How would you start to plan? With which other departments in the hotel would you work?
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Emergencies
Thank You!
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