Swarming and the social dynamics of group violence

Abstract

Riots such as the Cronulla and Macquarie Fields occurrences and media reports of large numbers of individuals gatecrashing parties understandably raise community concern about the prevalence and causes of group violence. This is a difficult area to research as the number of events is typically low, although their impact can be high. There are also different forms of mass groupings of individuals with higher and lower levels of associated violence. This paper provides a broad overview of these different group formations and identifies commonalities between particular group formations that are associated with violence. The paper also identifies two community policing initiatives focused on improving police-community relations. Such understanding will assist in the development of specific policy and practitioner responses that seek to prevent or reduce the escalation of group violence when there is the unexpected gathering of large numbers of people. Toni Makkai Director Introduction One of the key challenges for contemporary policing is how best to weigh up an appropriate and effective use of tactical force when it comes to events and situations featuring large crowds. Coupled with tactical evaluation are issues of community policing and the strategic interests of police in maintaining and enhancing general community relationships. For example, police have increasingly analysed and responded to planned events, such as schoolies week and football matches (including soccer), in ways that emphasise community safety and involve a wide range of community preparations, professional collaborations and anticipated responses. The aim of this paper is to explore the nature of group behaviour and group violence that is essentially spontaneous in nature. One example of this is the Cronulla riots. Another example is gatecrashing. To some extent, these two kinds of events (beach riots and house party invasions) are united in bearing a relationship to the phenomenon of swarming - the unexpected gathering of large numbers of people in particular public bcales. Swarming may or may not feature violence. It does, however, involve large crowds - crowds that may occasionally transform into 'mobs'. The size of the crowd is what also transforms a private home or private party into a public event via the spilling out of people on to footpaths and surrounding streets and lawns. This paper considers different kinds of group formation in the public domain, and tries to make sense of the different kinds of group behaviour that may emerge. The intent is to stimulate thinking about the complexities of group behaviour generally, in order to further refine and develop intervention tactics and strategies that are relevant to the specific phenomenon in question. Such an exercise has potentially significant benefits in terms of policy development and police management strategies. For instance, perusal of five years of media reports on gatecrashing highlighted that police intervention could on occasion be a source of amplification of excitement for some gatecrashers: they relished the thought of being chased through the suburbs by the local police. In other instances, the confrontational style of the police - especially if they showed up in numbers, and in riot gear was seen to be a precipitating cause of the subsequent crowd violence. In other words, understanding of group behaviour and crowd dynamics is also about understanding how the escalation of violence is sometimes linked to the type and intensity of police intervention itself. Group formation and group behaviour Swarming may be organised or spontaneous; it may engender or be associated with violence, or It might not. If group differences and differences in group violence are to be understood, then those instances in which large gatherings occur need to be identified. Those gatherings in which violence, generally speaking, is not on the agenda, nor is it prevalent are considered first. …