The best way to disperse a crowd. Mikhail Kryzhanovsky

Hitler's secret weapon is still used today
We are discussing the series “Death to Spies”, which airs on Channel One
Mikhail GERSTEIN - 06/29/2007
see in the issue of “KP” dated June 27 http://www.kp.ru/daily/23925.4/69304/print/

We have already talked about real prototypes acoustic superweapon featured in the TV series Death to Spies. During the war, Hitler's scientists actually designed devices that generated infra- and ultrasound. A person who came within the range of such a “sound gun” began to hallucinate. Fortunately, the Nazis were never able to bring their devices to fruition. But their ideas, initially pushed to the margins by the development of nuclear missile weapons, have recently received their development. The US Army Armaments Research, Development and Maintenance Center (ARDEC) created devices that generate “acoustic bullets” - powerful sound pulses that do not dissipate in space. A similar device was boasted to American experts in Russia: according to the military, their installation generates a powerful infrasonic “acoustic bullet” the size of a volleyball, affecting humans hundreds of meters away.

Against the crowd...

Such ultrasonic “squealers” are now used in Iraq by the US military and local police.

To disperse poorly armed crowds, for example, in Iraq, the Americans use a “squealer” - a metal box with a powerful speaker that creates directed sound waves of frequencies close to ultrasound. Sound waves form a pulsation in the ear, which is unpleasant for hearing and can cause pain, dizziness and nausea, and loss of orientation in space. Radius effective impact"screaming" - 700 - 800 meters.

In Iraq, combat infrasound emitters were also used, which became safe for operators. Two waves are sent to the desired location different sides, from different installations. The waves themselves are harmless, but at the point of their intersection they form dangerous radiation, causing blurring of vision and spasms of internal organs, up to the physical destruction of the enemy.

Pirates...

Another way to use acoustic weapons. Shields on the road that emit infrasound can easily replace barricades.

Two years ago, non-lethal sonic weapons became available to civilians and immediately proved their reliability.

Ships sailing in the choppy waters near Somalia are often attacked by pirates. In 2005, they captured 25 ships. On November 5, 2005, the Seabourne Spirit almost became the 26th, if not for the latest weapons.

The owners of the luxury cruise ship did not skimp and installed an LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) installation costing about 30 thousand dollars. A small device weighing 24 kilograms is equipped with a parabolic antenna that emits sound waves with a frequency of 2100 - 3100 Hz and a power of 150 decibels. LRAD operates effectively at a distance of 300 meters, making you want to immediately run away from the “firing sector.” While the passengers sat in the ship's restaurant behind several bulkheads, the crew drove away the invaders with an unbearable sound. In a helpless rage, the pirates fired at the liner with a grenade launcher, causing almost no damage, and retreated.

And rapists and hooligans

The creators of LRAD from American Technology Corporation have also developed a more portable sonic weapon. The "gun," about the size of a baseball bat, emits a "beam" of about 140 decibels. One “shot” is enough to for a long time neutralize any man. The "gun" is now actively used by FBI capture teams.

Another company, Compound Security Service, created the Mosquito device, which emits inaudible but annoying sounds. It costs about $800 and is designed to drive bullies out of places without physically assaulting them. Range of action - 15 - 20 meters. The device has already been purchased by many shop and establishment owners throughout the UK.

Scientists predict that ahead of the British will be the connection of such devices in unified system with an already existing network of video cameras to monitor the behavior of people on the streets. And it will no longer be a people, but a herd controlled by shepherds using buttons. What German scientists could not implement in 1940, the British are now doing on their own with their own hands...

QUOTE ON THE TOPIC

“Infrasound is very low frequency sounds that can travel long distances, easily penetrating the walls of most buildings and inside vehicles. Radiation with a long wavelength causes biological effects: nausea, diarrhea, disorientation in space, vomiting, damage to internal organs and death are also possible. It is superior to ultrasound in terms of damaging effects, since it does not change properties when moving from one environment to another, for example, getting from air into tissue human body. In 1972, an infrasound generator was built in France, emitting waves in the 7 Hz range. When it was turned on, people exposed to radiation could not come to their senses for hours.”

(US Army Handbook "Glossary of Field Terms" non-lethal weapons"Edited by Robert Bunker.)

27.04.2012 - 23:11

The problem of dispersing “inconvenient” public processions has been faced at all times, in all countries, by all authorities without exception. But simply shooting at people is a rude and short-sighted decision. If you shoot everyone, who will work? Therefore, governments were forced to come up with the most effective ways possible, but at the same time causing minimal traumatic consequences, ways to disperse the dissatisfied.

Don't gather for more than three!

In Russia, before the revolution, mounted Cossacks were considered the most effective weapon in the fight against demonstrators. Why horseback is clear. After all, from a horse you can see far away, and it’s easier to break into the crowd, pushing back the dissatisfied with the broad chest of a horse, turning the dense formation of formidable demonstrators into a scattered gathering of peaceful citizens.

It was risky to use hussars or dragoons, since in the heat of the “attack” they could use checkers. And the Cossacks were armed with whips, which, of course, left a noticeable mark on both their bodies and feelings self-esteem The protesters, however, were not particularly maimed, and most importantly, they were not killed. By the way, mounted police are still successfully used (and to disperse demonstrations too), say, in Britain.

After the October coup, all the dissatisfied were imprisoned, there was no one to disperse in the USSR, and the need to create “humane” means of combating the population faded into the background for a long time. In the West, the issue of fighting demonstrators has always been very acute. Therefore, the development of pacification technologies in democratic countries has sharply advanced.

Full protest pants

Most effective means For a long time, rubber bullets, batons and gases were considered to disperse demonstrators. Of course, the gases are not poisonous, but tear gases. Having inhaled the dope, people began to choke on tears and snot, and most often they completely forgot why they took to the streets in the first place.

In France, during the period of the hippie rampant, the government used against women's performances Quite original, albeit humiliating gas attacks. Gas was released on striking ladies, causing uncontrollable bowel movement. The ladies, feeling that they had a “great embarrassment,” threw their posters on the ground and ran home quite quickly and peacefully.

On male body this gas, of course, acted in a similar way, but the harsh French hippies did not take such inconveniences seriously, quickly sniffed each other and continued the protest march. And since many of them, along with the contents of their pants, sooner or later ended up in the police station, the police themselves eventually refused to use these weapons.

In Britain, they recently remembered the French experience and improved it somewhat. Namely, they created bullets that, when they fly into a crowd, burst and cover those around them with an oily, foul-smelling liquid. The developers assure that the “fragrance” spreading in the air will disperse even the most hardened inhabitants of garbage dumps, not to mention noble gentlemen.

In addition to the “stink” bullets in England, due to the increasing frequency of street brawls, another new product has appeared - the SMU 100 laser rifle. It has a range of 500 meters and creates a wall of light with an area of ​​three square meters, literally blinding the enemy. Paul Kerr, the head of the development company, claims that the effect the rifle produces is about the same as trying to look at the midday sun on a clear day.

Do you hear the voice of God?

In general, technological progress has brought many new products to the government’s fight against the spontaneous anger of the masses. For example, in the United States, police officers have the LRAD Sound Cannon device, which emits a directed beam of sound waves with a power of 162 decibels, designed so that it can be installed on almost any vehicle. If the device is used as a megaphone, then the commands will be heard at a distance of nine kilometers.

When using the LRAD Sound Cannon for its intended purpose, the effect of a sound wave of such power causes hellish headache, loss of orientation and the desire to leave the “firing” sector for anyone who is in the path of the beam at a distance of up to 300 meters. Those who find themselves in close proximity to a working device can easily lose their hearing.
In peacetime, the LRAD Sound Cannon is used to disperse birds at airfields.

But suppose the demonstrators tightly plug their ears and continue their unauthorized march. Then you can put the “Voice of God” into action.

This unique development (which is still at the testing stage), codenamed MEDUSA, is based on the use of directional microwave generators that can cause the appearance of “sound” directly in a person’s head, bypassing the ears, and therefore cannot be blocked. The “voice of God” in the brain, depending on the volume, can simultaneously affect a group of people and can both cause discomfort and incapacitate demonstrators for a long time.

In the USSR, similar developments were also carried out using microwave generators. Thanks to them, a device called “Radiohypnosis” was born. It is believed that this emitter electromagnetic waves of a certain frequency can put an entire city into sleep from a distance of several tens of kilometers.

There are more simple ways dispersing disgruntled crowds. For example, the American military in Arab countries uses a heavy cargo helicopter Boeing CH-47 “Chinook” for this purpose. It is enough for such a machine to simply hover over a rebellious crowd, and its two main rotors will literally blow away the demonstrators along with tents, flags, posters, fittings and other attributes of popular anger.

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It's only been a few months since the Arab Spring blossomed, hippies took up residence on Wall Street, storefronts popped in the streets of London, Time magazine named a nameless protester its Person of the Year, and rallies became the main entertainment of the winter. The foundations of the world order are still shaking on inflated financial bubbles global economy and so far show no signs of recovery from oil rickets, currency shortages and neglected unemployment. All this means that things will only get hotter and developed democracies will have a hard time. It will be especially bitter with the radicals who are waiting for the moment to rock the boat harder and drown the fed-up crew in the ocean of righteous anger.

Under such conditions, urban guerrilla warfare is becoming increasingly dangerous. Water cannons, pepper spray and rubber batons no longer protect law enforcement from raised fists. And since shooting from military weapons in terms of crowd is equivalent to deployment in the country civil war, we have to look for new non-lethal methods of suppressing the revolutionary spirit. As always, scientists isolated from socio-political life are rushing to the rescue, ready for the sake of science to create more than one peaceful weapon of enslavement. More recently, they decided to turn it into Israel, and into the USA. FURFUR decided to look at latest developments in the field of pacifying popular discontent and find out how to protect yourself from them.

Active knockback system

Let's start with the aforementioned heat ray. Pentagon scientists call this weapon Active Denial System, which, with a certain amount of imagination, can be translated as “a system of energetic sending to...”. Surely, the first to experience the impact of a machine that shoots hot waves over a distance of a kilometer will be participants in the “” movement.

The scientific basis of this installation is the use of electromagnetic oscillations in the millimeter wave range with a frequency of about 94 GHz. 83% of radiation is absorbed by human skin and causes a short-term shock. Scientists cheerfully call this the highly motivated rescue behavior effect. If reacted properly, ADS does not cause any harm to health. But there is one big problem: the pain threshold in the affected area is reached in three seconds. It becomes unbearable after just five seconds. Now imagine: New York, a demonstration is being dispersed, a hippie has twisted/broken his leg and is lying on the sidewalk while his comrades are motivated to escape. A moment - and he ends up in the microwave. Within half a minute, the unfortunate person goes crazy with pain and most likely receives a burn, the degree of which will depend on the brutality of the local Ministry of Internal Affairs.

PROTECTION:

Sprinting out of the attack radius will save you from the beam. Coordinated movement around the city and spiked barriers will immobilize the vehicle moving the device. And in time, setting fire to a Molotov cocktail in the building will stop the installation until the firefighters arrive.

Acoustic cannon

Another high-tech anti-freedom suppression technique is called a LRAD, or long-range acoustic device. As the name suggests, pain is caused by sound. It's like beating your unloved neighbors in the morning Slayer, at full volume, right into your ear, considering you have speakers with a power of 150 dB - like a jet engine, only 30 dB more. The first time LRAD was used to disperse demonstrators in Pittsburgh three years ago.

The installation starts with a warning 90 dB, but in case of disobedience, the settings return to the factory 150. The main effect is strong pain in the ears, disorientation in space and making an appointment with an otolaryngologist.

PROTECTION:

The gun's engagement range is 300 meters. First of all, you need to leave the zone of the first 100 meters, within which the pain from sound is especially painful. But this option is only for the most unprepared. Since the invention of the LRAD, tight, sound-blocking earmuffs have automatically been added to the rebel's arsenal, in addition to the face scarf and eye protection. When the effect of the installation is neutralized, it's time to use its power against the police with the help of improvised reflectors. In the form of hard flat surfaces underfoot.

Dazzler

If heat agony and deafness are not enough to neutralize the raging horde of justice seekers, then they can be blinded. This is done using devices under common name Dazzler is a ringing superhero pseudonym and at the same time a directed energy weapon, widely known as a laser. This type of weapon includes many models, operating at a distance of ten meters to ten kilometers. The most powerful of them take names from the arsenal of shooters: PHaSR, Disruptor and StunRay. The use of such weapons is prohibited by a special UN protocol on laser weapons 1995, but if they protest against the state, then it has probably already used less ethical methods.

Depending on the mood of the attacking party, the dazzler can hard-boil your eyes or temporarily deprive you of your ability to see. To feel the effect, it is enough to look at the sun for a few seconds without blinking. The consequence of blindness is complete helplessness and the potential danger of causing injury to oneself.

PROTECTION:

Obviously, mirrored sunglasses will help against low-power models. But in the case of already stronger samples, it is necessary to select a special filter depending on the color spectrum of the laser. However, a confident look into the pavement and finding shelter in time will save you from the blinding effect.

Flash and sound grenade

A flashbang grenade is also an effective means of instilling fear in the minds of protesters. This loud and bright weapon has been in use by Western police for a long time, but is not particularly used here yet. However, our country is developing and growing, so don’t be surprised if something like this happens at the next rally:

The basis of the damaging effect of the grenade is simply deciphered from the name - a deafening sound and a bright flash. The most advanced models are equipped with rubber buckshot to add physical pain to the bouquet of unpleasant emotions.

PROTECTION:

Natural dexterity and observation will help you dodge a flash grenade. In addition, sunglasses will again help (even better are swimming goggles with a sun cover for subsequent protection from gas), headphones and thick clothing.

Taser XREP

If a stun gun can be found in the bag of an old lady passing by, then the stun gun long range Taser XREP is already a weapon of the future. A shotgun loaded with shock bullets can calm or plunge the most violent ones into the abyss of convulsions in a selective manner.

The range of this type of weapon is not particularly high - only thirty meters. But progress does not stand still, and, perhaps, very soon the distance will increase significantly. The painful effect is reminiscent of the action of the most powerful stun guns, which ultimately can result in unbearable pain for the victim and, as a result, chaotic convulsions of incredible beauty.

PROTECTION:

If you have a bulletproof vest in your wardrobe, it will obviously not be out of place. Thick clothing and natural agility will provide some protection. The most desperate ones can try to use shields taken from law enforcement officers or made from improvised means.

Pulse Energy Projectile

Finally, let us mention experimental weapons that do not yet have working analogues, but are potentially considered a universal weapon for suppressing demonstrations and other activities unpleasant for the authorities. This is a PEP (Pulsed Energy Projectile) system that creates a beam of energy that, when colliding with the victim, knocks him down and touches the nerve endings, causing severe but tolerable pain at a considerable distance. Today, the prototype of the device weighs 225 kilograms and is not yet suitable for use in the city, but specialized publications are already ready to bet money on the fact that in the near future in the confrontation between PEP vs. the demonstrators will be the last to lose.

You can't detain women like that - the photo has a powerful anti-government effect.

Dispersing the crowd

An organized crowd (gathered to hold a protest, rally, procession) can act peacefully and with the use of violence.
The peaceful crowd holds posters or flags in their hands and shouts threats, demands, and insults against the authorities. People are trying to communicate with the special forces, to arouse their sympathy, sympathy, to convince them not to interfere, not to arrest the participants. It happens that crowd leaders give instructions to insult and threaten special forces in order to provoke violence. Demonstrators may block the street, traffic and entrances to government buildings. Sit-ins are practiced, as are techniques of peaceful resistance such as clasping hands or handcuffing oneself to a fence or to each other. In order to complicate the dispersal, they can put the elderly and women with children in the front rows.

If the erection of barricades begins, it means that the leaders have given a command to begin active resistance using violence. Cars, trees, furniture, fences are used for barricades - all this complicates the work of special forces. Arson and the use of explosives are especially dangerous, although stones, bricks, sticks, and baseball bats filled with paint are more often used. Balloons(they throw buildings at them). To block special forces' access to the action area, buildings or gasoline spilled on the street are set on fire. Leaders have been known to let snipers perched on rooftops shoot a few special forces in order to provoke violence in response (the same trick can be used by the government). It is not easy to confront small groups that disperse quickly and gather just as quickly.
The main task is to receive timely information from the agents about the planned riots (information about the leaders, time, place, number of participants, their goals, whether they have weapons). Leaders can be arrested or formally warned against violence. At the location of the demonstration, liquor stores and pharmacies must be temporarily closed (people may break into the pharmacy to take drugs). It is possible that a peaceful demonstration turns into chaos. In this case, the entire area is immediately isolated so that passers-by do not join the demonstrators and so that none of the violators escape. Once the crowd is isolated, time starts to work on your side. Barriers and checkpoints are erected, and machines are used to block the area.
Two perimeters are immediately formed - internal (to stop the spread of unrest and external (to keep outsiders out). If we are working in a large crowd, special forces form a ring shoulder to shoulder. In no case should we allow the seizure of a radio or TV station, because demonstrators can call on residents of a city or even a country to mass acts of disobedience.It is very important to establish contact with the leaders of the crowd and convince them to prevent or stop the violence, or to take the crowd to a safer place (park, wasteland).
An effective method of dispersal is crowd dispersal, its purpose is to “break” the crowd into pieces. To do this, the crowd is addressed with a “convincing request” to disperse (don’t even try to shout or give orders to the crowd), and they are reminded of the illegality and criminal liability for violence. If, despite the measures taken, the crowd behaves aggressively, it is necessary to form a line and attack with batons, water cannons, tear gas or stun grenades. To “cut” the crowd, they build a “wedge”, and to calm a small group, they take it into a ring. Most often, the use of batons turns out to be a fairly effective means.
Leaders and active participants in the riots are arrested first.
Warning: Organizers of riots may use snipers who will kill both participants and law enforcement officials. This is done to escalate the conflict and justify the use firearms at both sides.

I was an employee of a rapid response company of an operational police regiment from 1979 to 1985. This is the so-called reserve - the first special forces group of the North-Western region, which was created specifically for Olympic Games 1980 and after she remained. Then it was reformed into SOBR, when OMON was created. From 1985 to 1990, I worked as the head of the special guard of the 5th security detachment of the USSR Ministry of Finance, was involved in escorting special cargo in Russia and abroad (Korea, Vietnam), and was engaged in instructor activities. Since 1994, I was invited as a senior instructor to the Typhoon special forces, where I was engaged in special combat training, trained almost all the special forces that we have in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the then created UIN (Department of Execution of Punishments - MZ), then went on business trips to the Caucasus, was the commander of an anti-sniper group.

In the Caucasus, I had to train GRU special forces units, which were also engaged in similar activities. We trained them. When these business trips ended, I was invited to the training center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a senior teacher of special tactics for the special forces cycle (the so-called special cycle). All units that went on business trips to the Caucasus were trained there - OMON, SOBR. Then there was a long period when I trained police units special purpose(OMSN) of the North-West region, then consulted and conducted classes with our SOBR.

This was a special cycle for training units leaving for counter-terrorism activities. It was disbanded at the training center in 2006 and was considered unnecessary. Naturally, many teachers quit. I dealt with the same issues at the tactical training department. Now, unfortunately, such classes are not conducted anywhere. Even at the University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I had to advise the teaching staff at the department with special conditions of service, and they even had no idea how to behave in such situations. They didn’t even have methodological developments, no recommendations, they had to show them how to act in some specific situations. Slowly they also began to cook. The methodological programs, of course, are all old. Our [programs] need to be closely studied; they are professional methodological manuals. But, unfortunately, no one needs this.

I trained almost all riot police units for actions to prevent and suppress mass disobedience, I trained many groups that were then engaged specifically in suppressing illegal activities at public events. These include “Dissent Marches” and actions after football matches, especially when Spartak played our Zenit. There were often conflict situations that had to be stopped.

I had to videotape, then go over all these points [with the employees] and tell them how to behave correctly and how to behave incorrectly. I was compiling methodological recommendations about how to act in some extreme situations, how to act correctly in conditions of a crowd, a hooligan crowd and one that is loyal, in order to prevent excesses. I had to train myself, conduct exercises, and maneuvers.

Currently I am engaged in training and consulting employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on special issues, I am engaged in security structures, preparing them. This is tactical, technical, shooting training. And we work with children - we prepare them, conduct individual lessons.

Bolotnaya. “The actions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were absolutely wrong”

I was an expert in the “Bolotnaya case”, made conclusions, and thanks, I must say, to the lawyer, I believe that many of our defendants were released and given minimal sentences. Because there the police acted very provocatively, wrongly in many ways, so there were moments that I had to cover.

The actions [of the police on Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012], which were later examined in court, showed that there were practically no detained citizens who actually opposed themselves to the riot police and committed provocative actions. But [peaceful demonstrators] were detained, beaten, imprisoned, and absolutely unlawfully. The actions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were absolutely wrong, in violation of all the instructions they were given. This surprised me very, very much then.

And the way our judicial authorities treat such research, when employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs look in an unsightly light, then they simply do not take this evidence into account. You can't argue against them. How many situations have there been when detainees were accused of tearing the helmet off an employee’s head, throwing it away, and for this they were detained. Well, a helmet cannot be torn off a person if, according to the instructions, he must have it fastened on. Since it flew off, it means that the employee behaved incorrectly, did not fasten it, it was not torn from him, but he waved his head, and it all flew away.

There are instructions [that prescribe] how the equipment is worn, how the uniform is worn, how they should act. These are all internal instructions, but they exist. The fact that the helmet is lost does not mean that it is necessary to punish civilians who have nothing to do with it, who are placed in those conditions where they must either be crushed by the crowd or go forward, pushing aside the police, just to stay alive. This is an example where there were incorrect actions on the part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They were not even examined by anyone, no analysis was carried out in order to avoid such things in the future.

Protests. “Nothing is done spontaneously”

Our commanders, as a rule, are accustomed to rush forward with a bang, to disperse, to “bomb” - instead of preventing everything and settling it initial stage. In 2007-2008 [in St. Petersburg] there were “Marches of Dissent”, which took place along Nevsky Prospekt, along Palace Square- quite large events, where large forces of the then police were involved and where many incorrect leadership commands had to be recorded. I had to record it on video, to prove that it was wrong, when the commanders give the command to disperse the crowd, and there are two or three pensioners there. And a crowd of riot police runs with batons at the ready to disperse the whole thing.

And the people are turning against themselves, it is clear that people are not professionals, they cannot even carry out a competent detention, let alone a seizure, just a detention of a person who does not offer much resistance. Where it is necessary to suggest where to go, where to move, especially those events that end, as a rule, near the metro - [instead] they block the entrances, prevent people from walking, create a crowd, and then the whole thing is presented as a violation of public order and take strict measures. Although all this was absolutely unnecessary, unfortunately.

There are very, very many such situations. We sorted them out and showed [the employees] how to act correctly. But everything depends not on those employees who carry out, but on those who give orders. If you try not to comply, you will receive incomplete service compliance or dismissal. Sometimes there is a social order that requires, on the contrary, to act very harshly in order to show that here the employees act more harshly and that order cannot be disrupted. In fact, this is simply provoking.

Of course, there are groups that organize a protest, prepare it specifically and do it according to the same scenario in all regions of Russia. I am more than sure of this. I can’t name what groups these are, but I know that there are people who work according to the same training manuals, just as football fans were trained in their time. In any region of the country they acted according to absolutely the same laws. They trained according to the same programs, and at any moment, according to a common team, they could gather into one well-organized battle group, and they could create anything they wanted. Now it has “stopped” a little, but political things have begun. These are well organized things. There are special provocateurs who act correctly and competently, the so-called “active” at these events. “Active”, “militants”, “cover” and others who provoke and then quickly leave from there. The crowd gets into trouble. Of the stocks that I evaluated, this is Bolotnaya Square. There were also provocateurs from different sides. They are also divided into different groups: student, warrior, pensioner. Different groups provoke: some - young people, others - the military, others - those who are retired, and others - visitors. Each has its own organizer. There aren't many of them. They are very highly paid here in Russia, but they exist, they travel to all regions, they know how to do it very well, they are paid well for it.

Football is a large area, there are a lot of people, and they all go out into the open. There is an opportunity to throw out your emotions not only on the fans, but also on passers-by who accidentally come across. Thank God, we don’t yet have a command for these fans and admirers (they are also all well organized) to smash and destroy, set fire to cars, overturn them, like in England. This is also all done on command, and not just like that. Nothing gets done spontaneously. [During riots, protests usually have] more of a crowd joining. Always, if a well-organized provocateur shouts out or gives out organizational points and says what and how to do, then the crowd will very easily join him.

Of all the shares on this moment There are still more well-organized protests. They are not as frequent and I think they will not be as frequent, but they are and will be better and better organized. Let’s say, like Navalny on the Champ de Mars or somewhere else, when a whole group of schoolchildren and young people are brought in and, as they say, everything turns on them. For those who do not want to protest, but who are encouraged to do so. These are the kinds of things I fear, perhaps, as they will become more and more organized, because this is not only a protest, it is also a test of the actions of employees, how they will act at a certain moment. Knowing everything weak sides[employees] can do an event that will show that the police cannot do anything here. This could be very disastrous. And this all comes from training, not of [ordinary police officers] who primarily perform tasks, but of those who command. They are not trained according to our programs.

There are, of course, [spontaneous protests] - these are issues of housing and communal services or, for example, like on Veterans Avenue in St. Petersburg, when they tried to erect a monument to Viktor Tsoi in the park and immediately a fairly united team was organized there that did not allow this to happen . There were not opponents of the monument, but opponents of what could happen after its installation - how many Tsoi fans would come here, how they would ruin the entire infrastructure. As in many places where there are mentions of him, everything is written down, it’s a mess. It's a quiet area, everything's fine. I think there will also be such actions. Then there are developers, shareholders, who at first simply protest, then they can [attack] the equipment that is trying to build something there on the territory that was incorrectly leased or built. I can't say how common such spontaneous gatherings are. I didn't track this.

Police at rallies. “Hit on the head, even that’s wrong”

There are [instructions for police officers on working at mass protests], but, unfortunately, they do not describe tactics of action, but describe general rules. What groups should there be, which group is responsible for what: a blocking group, a documentation group, some other - there are hundreds of these groups. But how to act in a specific situation is not written down anywhere, they are not taught this. Everywhere [in first place] there is a forceful option of counteraction instead of what can be done competently, culturally and very beautifully. We were taught before the 1980 Olympics, we had a group - the Olympic squad special purpose- it consisted of only 20 people. But these 20 people could carry out tasks against 300 enemy people without using physical strength, competently, clearly, that’s what the level of preparedness was. We still have SOBR and everyone remembers this group, it was the best in the country. Before the Olympics, we had only five groups in the Soviet Union - and then there was preparation. Then the whole thing was stopped, classified as “secret”, many were fired so that they would not interfere, because they knew too much. Unfortunately, everything has come to what we have. It's a pity!

[Sometimes] I am invited by individual departments to conduct classes before some possible events. We discuss how to act as part of units, how to act as part of small group. How to properly prevent the actions of a possible hooligan, how to detain him. For example, a pensioner who does not need to be touched, you can convince him, tell him where to go. How to act with children and adolescents in these situations. Because here, unfortunately, the police can only do one thing: take a stick and hit you on the head - and that’s wrong.

[A police officer should not] hit, shout, or threaten. When we are detained (even in video recordings that are on the Internet and are simply sickening), as a rule, there is a continuous obscenity all around. Well, what is it? If the police officers themselves violate public order, then any citizen has the right to resist, because according to the law, an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs does not have the right to violate, and if he violates, it means that he is not an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, maybe he is dressed in uniform, which means he needs to answer? And any citizen has the right to use any means of protection from this “criminal” dressed in the uniform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is if you approach it according to the law. And every word we say is swearing. What it is?!

I had to deal with many employees. If commanders understood that they would have to command units, they contacted me - this was a private initiative of specific commanders. Moreover, when the same riot police commanders found out that the battalion commander asked to conduct a training session, he was punished for this. They told him: “What kind of nonsense is this that you are engaged in a private initiative?” It's like this all the time. The riot police commanders, after they were transferred to the guard, were generally told that there was no independent training, only that provided by the internal troops. This turns everything upside down. They force people to carry out a specific task - shoot, beat, stab, and operational training has been reduced to almost zero. Only force, shooting, combat - and it is used only when you cannot act differently, cannot convince, then, as a rule, you hit.

Almost all our law enforcement officers now study combat training, which is aimed at injuring the enemy, and not at restraining him or competently detaining him without injury. What do we have everywhere now? Boxing, kick-boxing and other nonsense that will not bring anything good to real life. But there are no competent arrests, no combat techniques that were previously studied without fail. Previously, in the 1980s, almost any police officer had to have a sambo rank. Now, unfortunately, there are only bags, pears, sticks, shields everywhere - we beat, stab, disperse, but this is wrong. This is not an indicator of professionalism, it is an indicator of stupidity. This is my personal opinion.

I only see [the police training situation] getting worse. They beat more and act more incorrectly, because they are being trained worse and worse in the training units. Both the initial preparation and the academic preparation with which they graduate from universities have become much worse, and much worse. Plus the equipment that is starting to arrive is good, of course, when various protective equipment is strengthened, but it is all power. And since such equipment exists, it should be used. That means they will beat me. Previously, there were police officers in raincoats and caps, but now - in bulletproof vests and protective helmets. Of course they will enforce it.

Commanders who will have to carry out the task assigned to them by their superiors understand perfectly well that it is better to do everything without incidents than to later write off [explanations] for unlawful actions and go through the courts. They understand this, low commanders, but those at the top force them. Even provocatively, the police are often forced to act, and they are forced to do so.

“You can’t act in such a brazen manner in a crowd.”

First, the event itself is tracked. People need to know how it is organized and what its specific purpose is. To do this, there must be people and agents among those who plan to hold such mass events. Then calculate what the damage and losses may be if there is any hooliganism due to these actions. This is the phase of prevention, not of suppression, but of preventing the rally itself if it is unauthorized, or harmful, or dangerous.

Then you can create situations without problems when people simply cannot gather for this event: these could be transport problems, you can pretend that filming, repairs, or some kind of explosive devices are taking place at the site of this event - whatever you like , can be done to prevent people from going there. Then measures are taken to control those same agitators, provocateurs - they are taken into account, and under some pretext they can be removed from there, withdrawn, and then the agitation will go completely differently. There are many options that contribute to this.

If the procession itself begins, which cannot be stopped, it can be completed before arriving at the final point. Do not oppose the crowd, do not stand against it, as we have riot police, and the group crashes into the group. No, work begins in the crowd - from behind, slowly, some hooligans were removed, others. Previously, why did many people work in civilian clothes, specialists in all these things? They calmly acted, calculated, chose. And there were fewer mass disturbances like this.

Now everything is practically in shape. There are, of course, employees who are in civilian uniform, but they conduct operational work more. They must identify the right people and should give people in uniform the task of fixing, detaining, or [the task of] somehow attracting them. But this again comes down to information that is not always correct. It may be correct if they found the agitator, but the force phase is carried out incorrectly, because in our case it happens that three or four riot police enter the crowd, drag someone away, absolutely not caring that they might be cut, and they can stick something in them and blow them up. You can't act in such a brazen manner in a crowd. You can get an answer. Sooner or later this will happen, and then they will again say that the police need to be strengthened, wages raised - and nowhere will it be said that training needs to be improved. None of our leaders were punished for poor training of the people they manage.

There is no communication between the police and the crowd, or it occurs at the level of forceful contact: detain, grab, drag away. This is a provocation, it is unknown how it can turn around and who will be worse off, because any rally can develop into a pogrom.

In our country, unfortunately, there is always a head-on confrontation between the police and the people who move there. But not at the initial phase, but when everything is already approaching the point of their expected procession. You can't act like that. Opposition can always develop into what happened in 1991: then not a single detachment, not a single police force fulfilled its task, they were all swept away. The crowd just moved forward, but what if it moves forward here? There will still be more crowds than police. We need to act completely differently.

What happens after the event, we have done it very well in the police: documentation, taking control, video recording, conducting interviews, taking photos of the criminal case. This is well stated. Another thing is that there are a lot of people there who are not involved in any kind of unrest; they are taken for company.

During the action, there is a mess that comes from the leadership, when they think that these need to be removed, these need to be dispersed - this is bad. Instead of working for agitators and provocateurs and seizing them, they work for ordinary citizens. They are provocateurs and organizers, as a rule, with good lawyers, they have, as they say, a “big roof” behind them, they do not receive any punishment for what they do. There is no point in contacting them, but with ordinary citizens - why not recruit pensioners, schoolchildren, and students? No one will stand up for them - it’s easier.

When, they say, they almost lay out a plan that you should have 50-300 people from Navalny’s [rally] - you detain, so detain, mash everyone, and then we’ll figure it out. This procedure is well established; where there is paperwork, our people know it thoroughly.

But in order to avoid this paperwork, unfortunately, you need other skills. But they need to be trained, and any training... I have this confidence: the more well prepared an employee is, the more problems he will cause, because he knows a lot better guide, which was installed, perhaps through connections. He carries out commands as they should, as correctly, and not as he was told. And this can harm the image of its commander. Why does he need this? They get rid of such people. They must strictly carry out the given order; they said forward, then forward. This is a big personnel problem.

“A nonviolent meeting should not be dispersed”

[The threat of a mass action must be assessed] based on operational information, firstly, or political factors. For example, what threat could there be from, say, the protests with Navalny now? Young people will gather and gather very easily; if alcoholic drinks are somehow brought there or there are youth provocateurs, this could develop into pogroms. And if actions are held, for example, not of a political nature, but [in connection with issues] of housing and communal services, people of a different kind will come there, older people, there will be a completely different conversation. And if it’s political - against some politician, official, as we had against Medvedev, Putin, there can be a different crowd there and into anything, it can escalate. Here everything depends on the situation: who is going where, how many people will be there and, of course, what the territory is. If this is an area where there may be markets where migrant workers work, or where there may be dormitories where visitors live, this can develop into pogroms.

Any group that performs must only be on the territory in which it has been given permission to operate. This is a mandatory procedure. If the group begins to disperse without any side effects- let’s say she doesn’t misbehave, doesn’t interfere with people’s passage, doesn’t block the road for transport, then such groups are simply accompanied until they break up into small groups and go to their places. If any unauthorized event begins, this public violation of order must be strictly suppressed. And so they must go along the route where it is supposed to and the route cannot be blocked, because this is also a violation. And we often get exactly this kind of thing.

Force should be used only in situations where there are really serious violations - no more, no less, or when there is an absolute threat of escalating into mass disobedience. And then the force must be very limited and very selective and correct. Now, at least in Lately water cannons are not used. I don't know for how long, but it's good practice. They only do harm. These are more provocative actions. They are absolutely not selective. These are actions directed against the entire crowd, and it doesn’t matter who is there: children, old people, adults, random passers-by or anyone else. They are still used a little in exercises, but not in real events.

In no way should a head-on collision be allowed, but almost always it happens. This is exactly the wrong tactic. A head-on collision always leads to something bad - the group that opposes the Ministry of Internal Affairs has the opportunity to retreat back, but those who are walking in the crowd cannot retreat back, because those who are walking behind are putting pressure on them. It turns out a breakthrough. Ah, a breakthrough, as they say. You have to beat them, grab them, but people couldn’t go back. They would have been crushed there. They need to find a place to exit. Instead of organizing a competent passage for them and partially letting them through, letting them through, letting them through.

Unfortunately, there is practically no debriefing among employees. If someone used force, as a rule, an explanation is taken that is beneficial to the management, and not as it really was, in order to then abruptly unsubscribe from everything. And so it passed and passed, no conclusions are drawn. We don’t draw conclusions even after some tragic actions. This is also a dangerous thing, because after each arrest, after each action, a debriefing must be done. This is not done, because you need to spend time on it and it will not always be in your favor.

A nonviolent meeting should not be dispersed. The exit from this meeting of people must be properly organized, the traffic flow must be organized so that people do not interfere with transport. Here we need to deal with the safety of people, and not disperse them in any way. On the contrary, any dispersal of a nonviolent meeting minimizes the image of the Ministry of Internal Affairs officers.

When an authorized event [is held], it should always be held in an area where there is no large passage of third-party citizens; there should be some wider area, a square, a square, where there are fewer citizens and highways - away from the roadway. All this must be taken into account. If it is not authorized, if people walk on the roads, Nevsky Prospekt is blocked, people must be removed from the road. If there is a violation of public order, we must act either with conviction or, with those who provoke it, more harshly and more competently. It is possible to carry out an arrest without any blows. You can do everything freely. Eat technical methods, there are tactical options for how to operate in a crowd. Two or three employees can easily disperse a crowd of 20-30 people, you just need to know how and with what, batons and shields are not needed there. But it's a secret.

“Many of our police officers are afraid to communicate with citizens”

Good preparation is based on an understanding of what will [happen during] any subsequent civilian action if it is a mass event. It is necessary that the employee understands perfectly what processes are taking place not only in the country, but also in the region where you work. Plus it must be good technical training, ability to use any communication, technology. Must be good physical training without fail, psychological preparation and operational, how to behave.

If you look at the videos on the Internet, the police everywhere are portrayed as bad, but why? But any policeman can freely make sure that he is not filmed. It’s not easy to ban video recording, no, but you need to detain this person and register him as an accomplice of the one you detained, who distracted you from performing your official duties and endangered your life.

Then everything will be properly formalized, but, unfortunately, even our employees cannot do this. A traffic police officer does not have the right to stop any car and check documents without the right reason. They just don’t have the right to check documents. And when I told them how many times, well, guys, you have the right, look how: “Comrade driver, random document checks, too many fakes.” All. And on this basis, brake any car.

But here, when [citizens] come up and start digging, why did you park your car here at the intersection? But because it is a business necessity. All. If you ask me, you provoke me, I detain you. All questions will immediately disappear. Unfortunately, we don’t teach our employees now, as they used to say, that a police officer should be able to get to the bottom of any post, but competently, correctly, and not just like that. But for us these questions have disappeared, we only have tactical questions, so we have many police officers who are afraid to communicate with citizens.

And since they are afraid and do not know how, then they behave the same way at mass events. It's easier to hit someone on the head with a baton than to do something wrong. This is my opinion, which many do not support. I always say: I respect the police, I respect the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but I hate untrained employees. They must be professionals. I am for good preparation, and not against the Ministry of Internal Affairs.