Public Order Manual Poman 1971 May 2026

POMAN 1971 was a "learning manual" written in the heat of conflict. Many of its tactics were deemed too aggressive or were refined over the subsequent decades.

A central tenet of POMAN 1971 is the concept of Minimum Necessary Force. The manual dictates that force should only be used when absolutely necessary and should be proportionate to the threat level. It outlines a graduated scale of response: public order manual poman 1971

Unlike previous manuals, POMAN 1971 dedicated 30 pages to pre-event intelligence. It instructed Special Branch officers to map: POMAN 1971 was a "learning manual" written in

This section introduced the “Red, Amber, Green” threat matrix, where a planned march would be color-coded based on known organizer affiliations, weather conditions (rain often dampened violence), and the day of the week (Saturday afternoon high-risk, Tuesday morning low-risk). This section introduced the “Red, Amber, Green” threat

The revised POMAN departed from standard riot-control doctrine. It introduced three distinctive operational modules: