Civil disorders have been demonstrated to present highly fruitful opportunities for violence-prone elements of society to steal firearms, ammunition, explosives and incendiary devices. In the 1992 Los Angeles riots alone, over 4,300 automatic and semi-automatic weapons were stolen from gun stores, pawn shops and other locations. The availability of these weapons on the street represents a significant threat to the public safety. Therefore, law enforcement agencies should take all steps possible to prepare for such eventualities through establishing this emergency preparedness and deployment plan.

These documents provide direction and procedures for securing repositories containing firearms, explosives or incendiary devices that may be vulnerable to looting during civil disturbances. They are designed to accompany an agency’s policy on civil disturbances.

This topic has been archived - it is intended for reference purposes only and will not be updated.