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Lessons Learned From May Day 2012

We are committed to providing public safety services so that people can lawfully assemble without fear and disruption. In order to better prepare for future demonstrations, we produced our own after action report to review our response to criminal behavior that occurred on May Day 2012. We simultaneously commissioned an independent and external after action report.

Both reports noted that our officers performed professionally throughout the multiple events that day.

However, there was confusion regarding event expectations. The lack of clarity had a negative impact on our response when a brief period of intense and orchestrated violence erupted.

We acknowledge that all employees assigned to future demonstrations need to have clearly defined expectations, equipment appropriate to the task at hand and the training necessary to deliver effective public safety services during dynamic, rapidly evolving events.

We are working to ensure that the experience gained from May Day 2012 is applied to May Day 2013 as well as any future events our city faces.