Police Legions

Monday, May 11th, 2015

Riot police may look vaguely like Roman legionaries, but they certainly don’t fight like Roman legionaries — or fight at all, really:

Some of the police are unfit, some female, and most of them are having trouble seeing with the head gear on, causing them to lift their chins and expose themselves to the type of damaging blow taken by the casualty. This engagement is a classic rout of a superior heavy force by a mobile light force. These cops have not been trained to work as a unit larger than two, and many of them seem unable to stay in the front rank out of sheer timidity. I could only imagine what a Roman Centurian would have done to these slackers.

They’re also not allowed to fight. We can’t ignore that.

I can’t help but think that they could use an Israeli-style sniper of one kind or another.

Comments

  1. I’m fascinated by how they broke up during the advance. Everything I’ve read about close-order formations advancing under skirmishing fire (and this includes quite a lot written by participants and observers, so not theoretical) indicates that the typical instinct is to tighten up and take cover among your fellows.

  2. Cassander says:

    I’ve seen videos of riot cops doing their job properly, and they do fight vaguely like roman legionaries. Hardly surprising that the Baltimore PD isn’t exactly a crack team of ninjas though…

  3. Edwin says:

    The goal is not to meet the rioters in hand to hand combat but merely to contain the rioters in one locale so they cannot spread the merriment. A phalanx of cops prevents further movement of the rioters but is never intended to move in for close quarters combat.

  4. Certainly not, Edwin, except maybe in extremis. It’s more the fact that they couldn’t even complete a short movement to the intersection without falling apart into little cowering clumps that was drawing comment.

  5. AAB says:

    Those police certainly haven’t heard the phrase shield wall before. A Roman centurian would’ve whooped them, as would an Anglo-Saxon.

    Lots of expensive equipment is no subsitute for effective tactics.

  6. A.B. Prosper says:

    If they are lacking enough money for high end training budgets in Baltimore a bunch of guys and gals from the Society for Creative Anachronism could give them a few pointers on discipline and how to hold a shield wall pretty cheap.

    Send a few cops to Pennsic and that’ll give them experience with crowds far bigger than any riot sometimes thousands of people on both sides equipped approximately the same as the riot cops.

    Leslie Fish can provide the inspirational music or of course they could play the March of Cambreath at the next riot, maybe the bloodthirsty lyrics would scare some sense into the thugs too

  7. R. says:

    This seems to be a US problem.

    Hereabouts, the police are quite picky about whom they take in, affirmative action is unconstitutional, the physical standards are higher, and no one would even think about sending *female* cops do riot duty, unless the situation was extremely dire, or the cop in question was of male-like physical* ability.

    *such are rare though, I’ve only met one woman who would be more than a match for 95% of men, by virtue of being about 6’5″, 200 lbs and fond of fighting. Mutant offspring of two tall university athletes.

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