Civil Order Control in the US vs. Other Nations - Assignment Example

Civil order control in the US vs. other nations Abstract This assignment looks into civil order control in the US and takes a case study to highlight the exact operations in unrest and emergency control. The final part compares the methods applied in the US compared to those applied in China, UK, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, drawing strengths and weaknesses of these methods as they are applied in the respective countries. Introduction Civil order control refers to the management of civil disorders, which consists of initiatives employed to control one or more forms of disturbances caused by a group of individuals. Civil disturbances are usually a sign of, or a type of protest against major sociopolitical harms t; the intensity of a disturbance coincides with the level of public outrage. Civil disorder examples include, but not restricted to, unlawful processions, sit-ins, and other forms of impediments, sabotage, and crimes. Many institutions are tasked with the responsibility of dealing these disorders, not only the justice system (Dammer, Fairchild, & Albanese, 2006). 1. Civil order control in the United States  In the US, problems relating to civil order are handled by social institutions. Social institution is defined as formal, recognized, reputable, and stabilized way of pursuing some action in society. This role is played by many agencies, not restricted to the police. However, the police are tasked with legally controlling civil order. The police perform this duty as a whole or the use of created specialized unit within the forces. Even though the demands are different, their roles are entwined. Therefore, the level of interdependence is massive if they are to achieve civil order. The organizations involved include police, social, private, and public agencies (Reichel, 2007). The government gives a guiding framework through Emergency response framework, called Project Impact that governs the plans adopted by federal states and local cities. The Mitigation Action Plan anticipates federal agencies to use the best alleviation methods to their power; build up partnerships to progress with their research, set development, and cost-effective procedures; offer inducements; and lead a countrywide open awareness campaign (Millan, 1998). Federal agencies disturbance plans differ depending on the type of disorder experienced. Disturbance plans exist at state level for the departments involved in emergency response, and only in looking at a specific civil disorder can we highlight how they are dealt with. To answer this question effectively, we will consider a specific problem and the agencies related in controlling the civil disorder. We take look at the 1996 riots in the city of St. Petersburg, Florida (Millan, 1998). The first incident was triggered by the fatal shooting on an 18 year old African-American by a Caucasian police officer, while the second unrest occurred when the police officer was released for the shooting. The city estimates 60 distinct arson fires in the disturbances and property and economic losses amounting to $6 million. The riots involved masses approximated at 4000. The St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue Department (SPFR) played the lead role the fracas. SPFR has an operational pre-incident plan for combating with civil disturbance. The plan was efficient in mitigating violence outbreaks, thefts, and fire setting (Homeland Security, 1996). The city had two plans, the Disaster Operations Plan and the Tactical Plan for Civil Disturbance. The disaster plan stipulated that overall management and synchronization was run done from the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), called into activation in the state of an emergency or an incident of sufficient magnitude where EOC support is necessary and representatives of the city’s agencies answer to the EOC to aid in incident management. It further states that Incident command Systems (ICS) be used to contain major incidents. The ICS focused on development of incident method and tactic, resource allocation, interagency management and interjurisdictional organization, and efficient communication (Homeland Security, 1996). The tactical plan selected the police as lead agency, with the fire department tasked with repression and EMS. Other agencies can assist through the mutual aid program. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department was used for surveillance for the first incident. During the second incident, the Florida Governor sanctioned state support for the city. This activated the Florida National Guard unit from Tamp. Also, independent fire units were organized into task forces that comprised of two fire engine groups and a district chief, enhanced with truck company staff and aided fire fighting (Millan, 1998). The police took the role of controlling the violent crowds during the incident, with violence at certain points where the crowds hampered rescue operations. This resulted in more than 26 seriously injured by the policed. The brutality of the police raised mass criticism and calls for police reforms although the mob at one point was shooting at the police. Apart from the agencies applied in the St. Petersburg incident, there are other specialized police units charged with responding to critical incidents and terror acts. SWAT teams are highly trained tactical units that trained on the philosophy of “time versus opportunity” when handling hostage rescue operations. The members of the team are briefed on the incident and assigned roles. In instances where the riot is considered to be terror based or targeted, the counterterrorism bureau headed by the FBI takes the lead role in averting damage in the Emergency response plan (Reichel, 2007). It is clear that each city has disturbance plans, and how and which one(s) is (are) applied depends on the magnitude of the disorder. 2. Compare and contrast Comparing the US system with others in the world gives similarities and striking differences. China The most famous Chinese incident of 1989, the Tiananmen Square massacre, comes to centre stage where the government enforced a media ban and sanctioned mass arrests to protesters and supporters alike, in an effort to quell the unrest (Bai, nd) Other incidents that trigger incident response are the frequent natural disasters. These include floods, landslides, famine and droughts, seismic and forestry fires. These catastrophes affect the national, economic and mining activity safety. China is also under threat of terror and criminal treats. Even though the country is vulnerable, there are no centralized emergency bodies that direct emergency response management, like the USA who have FEMA and DHS but possess many departments with conflicting responsibilities. The Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Public Security, State Administration of Work Safety, and National Disaster Reduction Center shoulder the responsibility in mainland China. The restructuring process that has seen the Main Domestic Security Agency and 3 other agencies provide integrated incident management is likely to make China experience the same success as that experience in the US after 9/11(Bai, nd). United Kingdom All the four states that make up the UK are administered by the English parliamentary System; located in England’s capital. Riots, protests and comparable campaigns have been experienced in this great democracy throughout its history. All emergency response is coordinated by the Home office and the Civil Contingency Secretariat, be it riots or terror attacks. The United Kingdom experienced a terror attacks just similar to 9/11 in the form of a train bomb in 2005. This has seen the country strengthen its counterterrorism initiatives. The Home Office and Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) recently reviewed local, regional, and national level emergency management systems. In the review, the CCS made changes among which was to replace and update the emergency Power and Civil Defense Legislation (Kapucu, 2010). This ensures that geographic area knows its boundary, role, and obligation. The reform also removed outdated organs handing over power to the United Kingdom government in the event an emergency. The formation of the MI5, UK’s equivalent FBI in handling counterterrorism gives the country an edge when handling such emergencies. This has placed the UK in the same level of preparedness as the US when it comes to emergency response (Taylor, 9 September 2005). Saudi Arabia Most of Saudi Arabia’s response policies are obsolete, not written, and inaccessible notwithstanding terror attacks, motor accidents, technological hazards, and catastrophes being the norm. The country is therefore vulnerable to emergencies with no framework to deal with the emergency. Technical expertise is low emergency response and planning and areas like civil defense, Para medicine, police response among other integral elements required in emergency management. A fire b5ragade was the first form of emergency plan in the country, 84 years ago and developed into the General Security and Fire Services, a name that was later changed to General Directorate of Civil Defense (GDCD) after the issuance of a royal decree. The GDCD, still the body in charge of emergency management and is tasked with the responsibility protecting civilians and properties from the dangers posed by fire, natural catastrophes, wars and other disasters. Moreover, GCDS ensures transportation to safety of civilians affected by the aforementioned disasters and also protects national resources in the event of war or other atrocities (Alamri, nd). GDCD has three levels: Executive committee, the board, and volunteers. Saudi Arabia’s emergency management may not be top notch as the US or other advanced nations, but it has come a long way in its structure. However, the greatest hindrance to the country’s ERM growth is closed information. Even in my research, some of the sites were inaccessible while those I accessed had stringent security measures (Alamri, nd). Japan The tsunami of March, 2011 that had far reaching repercussions is just but a highlight of the emergencies this country receives. In this crisis, the Japanese government prepared in its response. In less than one day, the defense ministry had deployed all military resources to combat the emergency, this being all the 110,000 reserves and active troops. The government had mechanisms to detect the catastrophe before it happened, predictions drawn from the strong tidal waves and heavy snow. The emergency response team is led by the prime minister who activates all agencies once the government knows of the emergency. Japan has advanced response systems, probably superior to the US due to the high number of incidences in their country (Carafano, 2011). Conclusion The procedures applied in emergency response and in particular order control in the event of civil unrest differs slightly between these countries because of democratic practice and advancement. However, brutality is observed under both regimes meaning that mass handling is difficult, and the extremity of the measures taken only depends with the circumstance, nothing more. References Reichel. P. L. (2007). Comparative Criminal Justice Systems. A Topical Approach (5th ed.). Dammer, H. R., Fairchild, E., & Albanese, J. S. (2006). Comparative criminal justice systems. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning Homeland Security. (1996). U.S. Fire Administration/Technical Report Series Civil Disturbances. Retrieved on 14 June 2012 from http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/tr-098.pdf Carafano, Ph.D, J. J. (May 25, 2011). The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake: Assessing Disaster Reposed and Lesson for the U.S. Retrieved on 14 June 2012 from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/05/the-great-eastern-japan-earthquake-assessing-disaster-response-and-lessons-for-the-us Kapucu, N. (2010). Emergency and Crisis Management in the United Kingdom: Disasters Experienced, Lesson Learned, and Recommendation for the Future. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/GRFDavos/asian-model-disaster-recovery-davos-tan-et-al-rev1ppt Bai, V. (nd) Emergency Management in China retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/GRFDavos/asian-model-disaster-recovery-davos-tan-et-al-rev1ppt Millan, C. R. (1998). Natural Disasters: Prepare, Mitigation, Manage: Natural Disasters Mitigation Strategies, Retrieved from www.csa.com/discoveryguides/archives/ndht.php Taylor, R. (September 2005). MI5 Head Warns of Liberties Trade-off to Fight Terror. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/sep/10/uk.terrorism Alamri, Y.A. (nd). Emergency Management in Saudi Arabia: Past, Present and Future. Retrieved from http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/Comparative%20EM%20Book%20-%20EM%20in%20Saudi%20Arabia.pdf Read More