A mobile field force (MFF), within the context of

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

law enforcement, is a large element of

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

s specially organized to support

anti-riot Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police who act in the role of riot police in particular situations or they may be separate units organi ...

operations through the use of maneuver tactics aimed at dispersing crowds during their embryonic phase or extracting agitators and leaders from larger groups. The mobile field force concept was created by the

Miami-Dade Police Department The Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD), formerly known as the Metro-Dade Police Department (1981–1997), Dade County Public Safety Department (1957–1981), and the Dade County Sheriff's Office (1836–1957), is a county police department se ...

in the 1980s.

History

The mobile field force concept originated with the Miami-Dade Police Department in the 1980s. Use of the mobile field force concept gained popularity among police departments due to the realization that traditional riot control tactics involving large echelons of police recapturing entire streets from protesters only served to move the unrest from one area to the next. By contrast, the mobile field force is a smaller group of police which identifies agitators and leaders of the crowd and targets them for extraction from the main group, or confronts and disperses a crowd during its embryonic phase.

Role and organization

The mobile field force is either a dedicated group of law enforcement officers, or a group of law enforcement officers with non-MFF duties who can be rapidly mobilized into the mobile field force in anticipation of an exigent event. Its primary responsibility is to operate in support of an agency's regular police during periods of

civil unrest Civil disorder, also known as civil disturbance, civil unrest, or social unrest is a situation arising from a mass act of civil disobedience (such as a demonstration, riot, strike, or unlawful assembly) in which law enforcement has difficulty ...

by disrupting and dispersing crowds that are in the process of forming, or identifying and arresting leaders of crowds that have already formed. In addition, the mobile field force can be used for protection of large crime scenes,

saturation patrol A saturation patrol is a police or military patrol tactic wherein a large number of officers are concentrated into a small geographic area.

distribution sites during a

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of i ...

. Mobile field forces typically have between 27 and 57 personnel.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

standards expect mobile field forces to be self-sufficient for periods of up to 72 hours. A sample 33-officer mobile field force is organized as a

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrol A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as Law enforcement officer, law enforcement officers, military personnel, or Security guard, secur ...

, consisting of four 8-officer squads. An MFF squad includes one

grenadier A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word ''grenade'') was originally a specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in battle. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when grenadiers were recruited from ...

who is responsible for deploying

riot control agents A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targete ...

and other less-lethal munitions using a

riot gun In current usage, a riot gun or less-lethal launcher is a type of firearm used to fire "non-lethal" or "less-lethal" ammunition for the purpose of suppressing riots or apprehending suspects with minimal harm or risk. Less-lethal launchers ma ...

. An 8-officer squad uses two marked patrol vehicles for mobility. A platoon is usually accompanied by multiple

prisoner transport vehicle A prisoner transport vehicle, informally known as a "Sweat Box" amongst British prisoners, is a specially designed or retrofitted vehicle, usually a van or bus, used to transport prisoners from one secure area, such as a prison or courthouse, to ...

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS) Mobile Field Force video
Law enforcement techniques Law enforcement in the United States

History

Role and organization

See also

References

External links