Public Order Management Systems

Public order management systems (POMS) are relatively predictable organizational routines, policies, technologies, and orientations used by law enforcement when engaging with protests or managing protestors. Variations in the features and styles of policing protest have received extensive analyses in recent years, but comparatively little systematic attention has been paid to the organizational structures that institutionalized police practices are embedded within. Three major components of POMS are apparent in contemporary Western democracies: (i) spatial and temporal restrictions on protest, grounded in a widespread adoption of advanced permitting systems; (ii) training regimens and technologies designed to help the police more effectively contain and control demonstrations; (iii) an emphasis, at least rhetorically, on the police negotiating with key participants and organizing groups before and during events.

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