Violence, cops, rights; Crowds

• Why are there cops? Courts and prisons? (List reasons; don't let list get too pro or anti. This is about getting us all outside our boxes.)
• What do cops do? Why do people want to be cops?
• Boil it down to that cops use fear and the THREAT of violence to maintain current power relations.
• Real quick know your rights for when you're caught alone: "Am I being detained?" You only have to provide name, birthdate, and home address. Other than that: "I won't talk. I want a lawyer." (In Chicago we also talk about how to use the First Defense Legal number, 1-800-LAW-REP4)
• In crowds, cops have their bosses, legal observers, and (sometimes) media watching them, so they are more disciplined and less lethal. But their power to contain or disperse is still entirely in their ability to scare people.
• We want to understand their weapons, training, and strategies, so they lose their power to scare us. The difference between a scalp wound from falling down and a scalp wound from a police baton is nothing more than fear. The physical injury is the same.
• Ask what injuries people in the group have gotten or seen from cops in crowds. We'll probably be mostly hearing about blunt force from batons, projectiles, barricades, or vehicles; falling down (palm abrasions, bruises) and twisted ankles from fleeing; and lacrymation from tear gas/pepper spray. "Anybody see someone's palm burned from picking up a tear gas canister and throwing it back?"
• The point of the discussion is for people to teach each other where injuries come from so they can think about risk and how to avoid more risk than they want — and how minor the physical injuries from streetfighting usually are. You can answer a few questions. Emphasize that we'll cover chem weapons in a minute.
• Show'em how you hang onto your buddy for a 360 degree view; how you make space in a crushed crowd and make a privacy circle for someone who fell down; how you start a chant of "WALK, WALK" (and why you don't yell "Don't RUN!"), how you walk with great intention.
• Talk about rumor control, looking for exits, and as much as you feel comfortable about topics like the matrix of force and ranked kettles used to assess the risk preference of a crowd.