Supporting Safe and Accessible Public Assemblies

1. Integrate all nonsensitive information from the non-public Standard Operating Procedures on the Rapid Deployment Force into the public-facing policy on Public Order and Civil Disturbances to facilitate transparency and accountability. 
2. Establish clear thresholds for the staging and deployment of the Rapid Deployment Force to ensure the unit is only used when appropriate and necessary.
3. Codify the role of the Dialogue Team throughout the stages of crowd management, intervention, and control to clarify their roles and support their ability to facilitate public assembly. 
4. Ensure the policy explicitly affirms and prioritizes the protection and facilitation of First Amendment rights and all Sheriff's Office personnel who may have a role in crowd management receive robust scenario-based training in relevant case law, de-escalation, and peer intervention training, with a special focus on expanding communication skills for the Dialogue Team.
5. Expand definitions and terminology to clarify the Sheriff's Office procedures for large-scale events.
6. Require every effort be made to communicate with event organizers prior to planned events and incorporate training and pre-deployment planning to provide proper accommodations for people with disabilities and people with Limited English Proficiency.
7. Explicitly adopt the principles of proportionality and differentiation throughout the Sheriff's Office crowd management practices to ensure all tactics used are tailored to each circumstance and avoid curbing rights of lawful assembly.
8. Restrict the use of force in crowd management situations to reflect best practices and reduce the risk of harm to event participants and unintended targets. 
9. Impose additional restrictions on the use of less lethal impact munitions due to the risk of serious bodily harm to event participants and others.     
10. Specify what conditions necessitate crowd dispersal and how announcements of law enforcement action to disperse a crowd shall be made to minimize deputy discretion and promote public safety.
11. Require that mass arrests be used only as a last resort.
12. Require that Sheriff's Office personnel allow all injured persons access to medical aid, regardless of how the injury was sustained, and follow the post-force medical aid policy.
13. Prohibit "kettling" and other restrictive containment tactics except when the Incident Commander has authorized mass arrests, issued clear warnings communicating intent to contain, and provided sufficient opportunity to comply. Kettling should only be used against those for whom there is individualized probable cause to effectuate arrests.
14. Prohibit Sheriff's Office personnel from collaborating with vigilantes, armed groups, or other non-law enforcement groups for crowd management purposes (e.g., crowd management tactics, uses of force, arrests).
15. Require that Sheriff's Office personnel participating in all levels of crowd management wear and utilize body-worn cameras to promote transparency and accountability.
16. Notify OLEO of Rapid Deployment Force staging and deployment to support mutual goals of transparency and building community trust.  
17. Require the Incident Commander to complete a thorough After-Action report and share it with OLEO to improve communication and transparency.
18. Include community stakeholders in the post-event review process to improve public relationships and promote transparency.

• OLEO applauds the Sheriff's Office for initiating important reforms to their crowd management policing and seeking nationally recognized training and resources to inform their new crowd management strategies.
• The newly formed Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) is a unit of more than 40 deputies trained to respond to crowd management situations.
• OLEO recommends that the role of the RDF be defined more clearly in policy and that the role of this unit be more narrowly tailored to match their specific skills and training.
• One of OLEO's principle recommendations is that the Sheriff's Office relocate substantial information regarding crowd management practices from internal documents to the public-facing policy: Public Order Policing and Civil Disturbances (GOM 11.10.000).
• OLEO recommends changing when and how less lethal weapons (like tear gas, pepper balls, and rubber bullets) can be used, to lessen harm to people attending or in the vicinity of large-scale events.

Of the eighteen recommendations:

PENDING: 18

The Sheriff's Office is currently reviewing recommendations. OLEO will update the initial recommendation status no later than March 2027.

ADOPTED: 0

Recommendations have been fully implemented. OLEO will no longer monitor.

PARTIALLY ADOPTED: 0

Recommendations are in progress or partially implemented. OLEO will continue to monitor. 

NOT ADOPTED: 0

Recommendations remain unresolved. OLEO will continue to monitor. 

CLOSED: 0 

Recommendation is no longer applicable. OLEO will no longer monitor.