Most effective way to deal with riots?

[Guest BigDaz]

Hi, what's the best way to deal with riots?

The water cannon just seems to annoy people, trying to arrest them usually ends up with my officers getting injured. Shooting them seems to be quite effective but when they keep coming I can end up with a whole street full of bodies. I'm not sure what I should be doing.

[Guest ComputerCop]

The key to stopping a riot is having the police respond as quickly as possible. I'm going to post a few tips here, but I assume that anyone reading this has the Los Angeles Mod.

I usually have several LAPD vehicles on patrol. I'll deploy all 3 available Crown Victorias (fully marked ones), the one Charger, and two unmarked Crown Vics. I leave the slicktop ones at PD headquarters as spares. Then I'll keep the LAFD Battalion Chief outside of the fire station and use him as a dispatch unit, assigning him one of the shortcut numbers. He can dispatch pretty much all the commonly needed units. So when a riot comes in...

- Select FD Battalion Chief (same thing can be done with a cop standing outside LAPD HQ)

- Send two or three (perhaps four, depending on the location and unit availability) police units to the riot; most of the time, the first one arrives very quickly. If I have an SUV with a SWAT team available, I'll send it as well if/when I get a chance, but I usually end up not using them.

- Depending on the location of the riot, you can blockade the area with the police cars..there are 1 or 2 places on the freeplay map which are like industrial businesses with fenced in compounds, and the only way in is by a gate. If the riot occurs at one of these places, and if two units arrive quickly enough, then I'll park them sort of at the gate, so anyone that walks in off the street to backup the first rioter, it takes them just a few seconds longer to walk around the cars

- Don't spend too much time setting up a perimeter and all, only do it if things get REALLY out of hand

- Basically, I just run in with 2-4 cops from the first 1-2 police cruisers that arrive on scene and grab the guy with the sign. Usually with my tactics, he'll be alone, or just have one person with him. Just get the guy with the sign away from the area, either by arresting him or shooting him. If you shoot him, the paramedics have to get him to the hospital, or more rioters will keep coming. Easiest way is to wrestle him down and handcuff him. After that, its really easy.

- By the time I have the sign man and his friend (if one came) in the back of the first police car, the third/fourth backup unit arrives. Just send em back on patrol, call completed.