Public events are at the heart of civic discourse in modern societies. The nature and number of public events and state response define the characteristics of the society and governance. Events and the police response to them are interactions that provide insight into the nature of social and democratic discourse in society.

Surveying the data of public events in cities and police response to them, detailed case studies of selected major events, and advanced statistical analyses, this book looks at the relationship between public events and police response. While different characteristics of events have varying effect on police response, the scale of violence in the event has the greatest impact on police response. The analyses indicate that the response of the police is largely circumscribed by democratic norms and rule of law. Revealing the tendency for police to be drawn into the ambit of political debate, which greatly impacts police organization and personnel, the study also points to the seeds of criminalization of politics and public discourse in selected public events.