Recent legislative changes have required that POST staff review and update the Crowd Management, Intervention, and Control Guidelines recently published and released in April 2021. 

In 2012, POST staff created the Crowd Management, Intervention, and Control Guidelines document. The document was created through collaboration with more than 20 subject matter experts (SMEs) and other contributors. 

Beginning late in 2020, POST convened a group of subject matter experts to review and if necessary, update the guidelines. The SME group determined that based on fairly recent  instances of unlawful and inappropriate uses of force by on-duty, uniformed law enforcement officers in the United States, recorded and widely played on social media as well as events within our nation’s Capitol caused increased attention on crowd management. Additionally, the SMEs determined that preparation by law enforcement, tactics by unlawful protesters and advanced technology/social media have resulted in additional required updates to the guidelines. These updates were included in the guidelines published and released in April 2021. 

Recent legislative changes have been made that significantly impact policies and procedures as they relate to crowd management for all California agencies. Some of these changes have been to the reporting requirements for use of force and excessive force, the requirements for training of officers deploying chemical agents and/or kinetic energy weapons, and the restrictions on when and how chemical agents and/or kinetic energy projectiles may be deployed. These changes were significant in their effect on agency policy and required an immediate update to the 2021 guidelines. 

POST staff carefully reviewed the recent legislative changes within Penal Code Sections 409.7, 13652, and 13652.1. POST staff reached out to the group of SMEs responsible for the recent revision of the guidelines and sought advice. All of the SMEs strongly felt that an immediate review and likely a revision of the guidelines was warranted. Staff met initially in a video-based online meeting for four hours to identify the scope of the changes. It was decided that a hybrid in-person and video-based meeting of at least three days would be needed. 

POST staff met with a group of approximately 10 SMEs in November, for a three-and-a-half day meeting. The new laws were thoroughly reviewed and changes to the guidelines were made based on the group’s input. 

The latest revision is now complete and going through a final edit and graphics review in preparation for release statewide. We expect this release to be completed and the revised guidelines published before the March Commission meeting. 

POST staff have finalized the publication of this revision and released this update to the field in the early weeks of February 2022. This item is informational only.  No action is required by the Commission.