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♦When looting startsPolice encourage riotsby not takingbiSiSAN FRANCISCO (UPI)-•Police actually fan the flames of riots when they stand around and .. watch looters plunder stores without taking action to stop them, a Michigan State University sociologist reportedtoday.In a research paper present* ed at the American Sociological Association meeting, Dr. James Hundley Jr. said the absence of sufficient police power to control an outbreak early encourages rioters.A particularly dangerous turning point occurs, Hundley said, when police just stand around and watch looters and vandals because they do not not have enough men to stop them.“We have reports of policemen weakly chasing looters, scolding them, or driving back and forth among looters shouting verbal insults,’* Hundley said. “These kinds of non-control activities encourage andpromote still more defiant behavior ”Hundley’s description of the dynamics of a ghetto riot were based on studies he made of the-Watts riot of 1964 and the 1966 disturbances or riots in Chicago, Cleveland and Lansing, Mich.He said the strategy of police withdrawal to quiet the ghettoaLrrttFttTREASURE HOUSEYour'unused furniture or appliances will find a ready market through Classified Ads.works only if “legitimate leaders” of the community are able to exert social controls.The flashpoint of a riot, Hundley said, is preceded by a “rather mysterious” community communication process that focuses on the unfavorable conditions of ghetto inhabitants and the extreme nature of their plight.“When this community communication reaches a certain height, some event usually occurs which typifies the kinds of maltreatment received by ghet-toites,” Hundley said. “This may be an arrest in which there is an alleged brutality; this may be a water fight; a heated debate among some official and a ghettoite; an ambulance; an encounter at the beach; the raiding of an after hour bar; or a public gatheringor lt;;npprh **He said that once a crowd gathers, activists and their supporters begin to exhort the relatively passive crowd to action.The sequence of destruction begins with a group of younger males breaking windows, hesaid. They are followed by looters and then by arsonists.“It is no accident that the most extreme form of deviation in ghetto riots—that of shooting and sniping—usually occurs late in the first night or the second and third night.”Hundley said there is some indication snipers are associated with “instigaiive and-or expletive groups.”wwa:wc,rlt;tifi1!PEkan5c1j11
Newspaper Details
Redlands Daily Facts
Redlands, California, US
Tue, Aug 29, 1967
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 30 May 2020
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