Intelligence gathering and the need for control: managing risk in public order policing

When policing public order, the police are asked to consider and protect the democratic and human rights to assemble in public and to express our political opinions. The police are also tasked with preventing or managing disorder. The tension between these competing duties affects how the police react to public order situations and contributes to their noted desire to maintain as much control as possible over their often precarious working environment (Waddington, 1994).