A ‘kinder blue’: analysing the police management of the Sheffield anti-‘Lib Dem’ protest of March 2011

Recent reports issued by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, and the Manual of Guidance on Keeping the Peace, jointly produced by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) and the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA), have advocated a more permissive approach to policing public order, involving a greater emphasis on facilitating the right to protest. This reorientation of police policy reflects an acceptance of insights and recommendations relating to the Elaborated Social Identity Model (ESIM), a social psychological approach to explaining the dynamics of police–crowd interaction and its implications for public order. In its recent handling of an anti-‘Lib Dem’ protest staged in Sheffield in March 2011, South Yorkshire Police operated in accordance with the ESIM approach by deploying a Police Liaison Team and social media cell in a concerted attempt to enhance the quality of police–protester communication and interaction. The following article uses participant observation and in-depth interviews with senior police and protest organisers involved in the anti-Lib Dem rally to argue that it would be helpful to apply a more contextualised approach than the ESIM (namely the Flashpoints Model of Public Disorder) as a basis for comprehensively understanding the nature and impact of police strategy and tactics, and appreciating why they were so successful in limiting the occurrence of disorder.