ABSTRACT
Commentary on public order policing has been dominated by the analysis of riot and riot control. The policing of public order is quite different from the policing of public disorder. On the face of it, public order policing in contemporary Britain remains a triumph of "policing by consent.'' The irony of public order policing may be that, the more control the police exercise, the more freedom protestors can be allowed. Critics of British public order law habitually note that, unlike most other countries, Britain does not possess a written constitution and Bill of Rights. Public protest is a political phenomenon subject to political processes, which are not reducible to a set of principles capable of universal application. Despite all the conjecture that Britain is ''drifting into a law and order society", this research indicates that the interpretation and application of those rules by the police remain remarkably benign.
