550 CMR 6.08
Mass Demonstrations, Crowd Management, and Reporting
(1) A police department shall establish plans to avoid and to de-escalate potential or actual
conflict between officers and mass demonstration participants. When a police department
obtains advance knowledge of a planned mass demonstration within the police department's
jurisdiction, the police department shall diligently attempt in good faith to:
(a) communicate with organizers of the event before the event occurs in an effort to
establish reliable channels of communication between officers and event participants, and
(b) discuss and establish logistical plans to avoid or, if necessary, to de-escalate potential
or actual conflict between law enforcement officers and mass demonstration participants.
(2) The department shall designate an officer in charge of de-escalation planning and
communication to carry out the above plans within the department.
(3) A law enforcement officer shall not discharge or order the discharge of tear gas or any other
chemical weapon, discharge or order the discharge of a kinetic impact device or rubber pellets
from a propulsion device or order the release of a dog to control or influence a person's behavior
unless:
(a) de-escalation tactics have been attempted and failed or are not feasible based on the
totality of the circumstances; and
(b) the measures used are necessary to prevent imminent harm and the foreseeable harm
inflicted by the tear gas or the chemical weapon, kinetic impact device, rubber pellets or dog
is proportionate to the threat of imminent harm.
(4) If a law enforcement officer utilizes or orders the use of kinetic impact devices, rubber
bullets, CEDs, CWs, ECWs, or a dog against a crowd, the law enforcement officer's appointing
agency shall file a report with the Commission detailing all of the measures that were taken in
advance of the event to reduce the probability of disorder and all de-escalation tactics and other
measures that were taken at the time of the event to de-escalate tensions and avoid the necessity
of using said weapons, including a detailed justification of why use of said weapons was
objectively reasonable.
(5) Canines should not be utilized for crowd control, restraint, or management of peaceful
demonstrations, but may be deployed for crowd control, restraint, or management of peaceful
demonstrations in isolated circumstances related to bomb detection, pursuit of suspects in
buildings, and related situations. Utilization does not include circumstances in which the canine
remains on a short lead in close proximity to the handler and is well behind the line of contact
between law enforcement and civilian personnel.
(6) The use of Kettling as a means of crowd control, crowd management, or crowd restraint is
prohibited.