ABSTRACT
Contemporary expressions of concern at the public order provisions of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act are reminiscent of the anxieties that were expressed just as forcefully about the Public Order Act, 1986. Then, as now, the Act was thought to threaten democratic freedoms and usher in an era of police repression. The research on which this paper rests was conducted between February 1990 and the early hours of New Year's Day 1993. It consisted of a participant observation of public order policing in the Metropolitan Police District. Chatterton's analysis applies remarkably well to the policing of public order. Despite the fact that such operations are commanded by officers of senior rank and occur often in the glare of publicity, rather than the obscurity of encounters on the street, those involved seem to be motivated by the same desire to avoid these two sources of 'trouble'.
