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DetailsOriginal Format: 16mm Colour: Colour Sound: Silent Duration: 10 mins
Subject: MILITARY / POLICE
Summary This film documents police training that involved handling public order disturbances, such as National Front demonstrations. Various procedures and strategies are run through, with the focus constables handling large numbers of possibly hostile demonstrators.
Description
This film documents police training that involved handling public order disturbances, such as National Front demonstrations. Various procedures and strategies are run through, with the focus constables handling large numbers of possibly hostile demonstrators.
The film opens with an elevated shot of a courtyard; policemen in organised rows march in single file onto a coach. A senior officer exits the coach, before the officers file out of the coach themselves, returning to their standing...
This film documents police training that involved handling public order disturbances, such as National Front demonstrations. Various procedures and strategies are run through, with the focus constables handling large numbers of possibly hostile demonstrators.
The film opens with an elevated shot of a courtyard; policemen in organised rows march in single file onto a coach. A senior officer exits the coach, before the officers file out of the coach themselves, returning to their standing formations. The officers line up in front of the senior officer, who stamps his foot.
The next sequence shows the same process repeated again, except this time the coach is an official West Yorkshire police vehicle. A close up shows a senior officer giving out orders, with the constables then forming a tight line in front of him, while a small group huddle behind. The officers then perform various crowd control positions; they lock arms closing any exposable gaps in the defensive formation. The same procedure is captured again by the filmmaker, before the constables form three rows in front of the senior officer, locking arms again.
The next sequence opens from an elevated perspective of the courtyard, and again the constables are taken through some of the PSU strategies, which involve arranging groups of officers into various lines of defence; some in long lines, while others in tight wedge shaped groups. The officers then practice holding back advancing protestors who, for demonstration purposes, are also played by police officers. The officers then form a spear head formation and rock in unison, as they force back the advancing protestors again.
The final sequence features training with riot shields. Officers with riot shield form a tortoise defensive position, while mock protestors hurl rocks at them. The officers then break from the position, and rush to restrain the protestors, remanding them behind the shield wall. The final shot in this film shows the officers breaking formation with the session over.