ABSTRACT
Th is chapter looks at the ways in which police discretion functions at political demonstrations by focusing on how the New York Police Department (NYPD) handled six demonstrations at the 2004 Republican National Convention (RNC). Th e analysis shows that to understand the police response during these demonstrations four factors need to be considered. Th ese are (1) the posture that demonstrators took toward the police, (2) the overall styles of policing used by the NYPD, (3) the legal frame within which the police operate, and (4) the political environment in which the policing occurred. Th is four-part framework implies that responsibility for the decisions the police make at demonstrations lies not just with individual police offi cers or police commanders at the scene, but also with top police executives and political leaders, who set the parameters within which on-the-ground decisions are made.
