This unprecedented behind the scenes analysis of public order policing, first published in 1994, investigates the impact of increased police powers and equipment on basic democratic freedoms, describing and analysing police operations from protest marches to riots, and from royal ceremonials to street carnivals.

1. Taking Rioting, Protesting and Policing Seriously 2. Law and the Authoritarian State 3. Avoiding Trouble: the Public Order Context 4. Negotiating Protest: Policing by Consent? 5. Relationships 6. Remote Control 7. Commanding the Ground 8. Institutionalizing Dissent 9. Power and Public Order Policing