Why the Incident Management Team Comes to Gatherings

Thanks to the Free Assembly Project for putting up court documents on their website. This specific excerpt is from a Hearing Transcript, 5 July '07 near the Annual Gathering in Arkansas with this comment: (NOTE: The accuracy of this official transcript is under review, yet to be determined.) The answers (A) are from from Gene Smithson. The questions (Q) are from Don E Wirtshafter.

Q Is there any ongoing training that officers receive in
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1 crowd control?
2 A Every year we are -- we are going to be recertified in it.
3 Q Uh-huh.
4 A Yeah.
5 Q And what do you have to do to get recertified in crowd
6 control?
7 A You have to complete the course that the park police
8 requires you to complete. That's as per our agency's direction
9 we follow in accordance with their policies.
10 Q Is there anyone receiving training as part of their
11 participation in the National Incident Management Team?
12 A Every officer on the team.
13 Q They are receiving training credits for being out here this
14 week?
15 A Every officer on the team.
16 Q Can you describe a little bit about the training that
17 officers are receiving while they are here at the Rainbow
18 gathering?
19 A Basically they have received training in formations and how
20 to protect themselves, how to dissipate crowds, how to deal with
21 crowds.
22 Q And so there are trainers present here?
23 A Not today.
24 Q But present trainers at the national incident here at the
25 Rainbow gathering?
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1 A Well, they have been here; yes.
2 Q And so the officer that stopped me, he would have also been
3 receiving training in these matters at the same time that he was
4 doing this traffic check point?
5 A If it was one of the officers assigned to my team, yes.
6 Q Thank you. Have we got those other stop check points yet?