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��-""`� ��POLICE MANUAL REVIEW COMMITTEE
Date: 7/19/77
Place: Room G15, Town Hall
Members Present: Kent, Hays, Corr, Mabee, Chapin
The £ollowing monographs under the Policy and Procedure Section orere considered:
Monograph 2L• Crowds and bemonstrations
The first paragraph under General Considerations and Guidelines shall read
as follows:
Whenever large numbers of persons gather together, £or any purpose, there
is always a potential problem for the police. It can be an athletic event,
a parade, a country fair, a dance, a large house party, a rock and roll
concert, a protest ral�y, a strike or labor dispute, etc. No matter how .
innocent its origin or purpose, any crowd can become an unlawful assembly
o'r even a riot. Police have the responsibility to protect the rights of
all persons to assemble peacef�lly, and at the same time to preserve the
basir peace of the entire community. Whenever officers respond to dis-
turbance calls at private homes, they should keep in mind the special
sensitivities involved in such responses, and in any aetion or investiga-
�ion that may follow, as compared to that required in the handling of
general outside gatherings.
On old Page 5 and 6, the paragraphs are rearranged as noted on the attached '
photostat.
The monograph was approved unanimously.
Monograph 27: Lost, Stolen and Received Property
Department corrections or suggestions: None I
Monograph approved unanimously. �
Monograph 28:. Police and News Media ��
De artment corrections or su ��
p ggestions: None ��''J
Monograph approved unanimously. �
PQonograph 29: Preliminary Investigation ,�
Department corrections or suggestions: None
Monograph approved unanimously.
Monograph 30: High Speed Pursuit
The committee reviewed and refreshed their memories of discussions of a
year ago of the Lexington Police Department procedure. This was before we
had established a committee method of reviewing all MPI monographs. The
department procedures on high speed pursuit was first approved and in use
by the department in December 1975. These department procedures already in
use essentially follow the MPI monograph except as noted in the corrections �,
on file. Paragraph 12 on Page 4 of the monograph was changed in the last (
sentence so it will now read:
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"In all such cases in making and executing a �udgment to discharge a
firearm in the course of a high speed pursuit, every precaution shall
be taken to insure the safety of the general public in the vicinity.°
This concluded the committee deliberations and discussions of the 30 monographs
on policies and procedures and prepared by the Massachusetts Police Institute.
The next meeting oP the committee is for the purpose of assembling these correc-
tions to the various monographs and prepare the necessary pages for the £inal
correctionr The next meeting will be held at the Police Station at 7:30 P.M. ,
August 16, 1977.
Meeting adjonrned 9:40 P.M.
Respectfnlly submitted,
e'�`,�zcs'�i `7'�� L'l`��.ti„�:
Hugh M. Chapin
Secretary
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Crowds and Demonstrations
Five
p. shall carefully note the specific offense committed
by any person arrested to obtain a later conviction
for that offense.
7, The crowd shall be broken up from its outer edges and per-
mitted to disperse as individuals or small groups. A
sufficient number of avenues of dispersal shall be provided.
8. No attempt shall be made to bluff an unruly, aggressive crowd
or to accomplish a police objective without sufficient forces.
9. After order has been restored, every effort shall be made
to return the community to normal functioning as soon as
possible.
10. The term "Breach of the Peace" is a broad term which includes
any disturbance of the public peace. It is the offense of
disturbing the tranquility enjoyed by the citizens o£ a
coramunity by any act or conduct inciting to violence or tending
to provoke or excite others to break the peace; or any act
which, by causing consternation and alarm, disburbs the peace
and quiet of a neighborhood or a lawful pnblic assembly. The
"public peace" is that sense of security and tranquility which
every citizen is entitled to under the law.
11. Sources of Authority: Under the provisions oY M.G.L. c. 41, s. 98,
police officers are empowered to suppress and prevent all dis-
turbances and disorders. In order to do so they may disperse any
assembly of three or more persons and may enter any building to
suppress a riot or breach of the peace therein. Persons so
assembled who do not disperse when ordered, and persons making,
aiding and abetting a riot or disturbance may be arrested by the
police and taken before a District Court to be prosecuted.
A police officer derives from the common law the right to arrest
without a warrant a person who in his presence co�its any mis-
demeanor asnounting to a breach of the peace and to detain him
until he can be brought before a magistrate.
Under the provisions of Chapter 269 Section l, in a city and town,
a police officer, a mayor, each of the aldermen or selectmen,
all justices of the peace, a member or o£ficer of the State or
Metropolitan district police, and the county sheriff and his
deputies are authorized to command in the name of the Commonwealth,
any armed group of five or more trith weapons, or ten or more, not
armed, who constitute an unlawful assembly, to disperse immediately
and peaceably. If the group members refuse to disperse, each of
the of£icers or magistrates can arrest the members and order other
persons present to assist them in suppressing the unlawful assembly
and arresting the members.
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