Lawsuits filed by Occupy Wall Street protesters against the University of California Davis alleging they were pepper-sprayed during a campus demonstration has increased public entity risk managers' awareness of the need for better planning and decision-making when addressing similar situations.

A report by New York-based security firm Kroll Inc. blamed a “communication failure” for the physical confrontation between police and protesters at the Northern California campus in November and advised the university to review its police policies and training and establish a better decision-making system for reactions to public protests.

Public entity risk management experts agree that all departments and personnel likely to come in contact with protesters should have open lines of communication to avoid a fate similar to UC Davis, which is embroiled in litigation filed in February by 19 students and alumni who were either sprayed or arrested. The federal lawsuit asserts the alumni and students' constitutional rights to free speech and assembly were violated in the controversial incident. The university declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

Risk management experts also recommend that public entities prepare a plan to address possible confrontations that might erupt out of otherwise peaceful demonstrations; or, if they already have a plan in place, to review and update it to address the risks inherent in protests involving overnight and long-term occupation.

“Oftentimes, risk managers don't have a real strong working relationship with some of the other departments that might be responsible for crowd control and safety measures. This lack of cooperation results in a less-than-unified approach to deal with these problems,” said Mark Goode, Charlotte, N.C.-based executive vp and head of the public entity practice at Willis North America.

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Public entity risk managers typically are not involved with the risk preparations of police departments and other first responders. According to Terri Sahli, risk manager for the city and county of Denver, “it's really the agencies that do the front-line work,” such as the police and public safety departments that are involved in managing risks associated with public protests, rather than risk management departments, because “it's business as usual for them.”

However, said Mr. Goode, risk management, police and public safety all “need to be sitting down internally and brainstorming” together to prepare for “the things that can happen...and have happened in other places. It's not like these riots pop up at the last minute. The resources should be over-prepared and have good visibility,” Mr. Goode said.

“Communication is the big thing,” said Dan Pliszka, manager of the risk management division for the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

While declining to provide specifics about the risk management preparations being made for this fall's Democratic National Convention due to “national security concerns,” he said “we have formed a really good partnership with police and public safety.”

In addition, the city sent 100 police officers to the NATO meeting held last month in Chicago “to not only assist, but as a learning experience,” Mr. Pliszka said.

He added that prior to the passage of an ordinance prohibiting overnight camping within the city limits, “we had a fairly robust Occupy protest on the lawn of our old City Hall.”

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Partly to address the risks inherent in long-term occupation by protesters, several cities including Charlotte and Denver, where the 2008 DNC was held, have passed ordinances banning overnight camping.

While political demonstrations are not uncommon at the University of California Davis, the administration did not consider the Occupy movement encampment to be a conventional campus protest, according to the Kroll report.

“The leadership team appeared to perceive it as a vehicle through which nonaffiliates might enter the campus and endanger students,” which is why campus police used pepper spray to ward off protesters who refused to leave, the report said.

“The use of force by police officers is based on what the officers perceive to be the threat at the time,” said David Salmon, president of OSS-Law Enforcement Advisors, a consulting firm in Spring, Texas, who will speak on the use of excessive force at the Public Risk and Insurance Management Assn. conference this week in Nashville, Tenn.

“Pepper spray is what's normally referred to as a Level 3 use of force. It is used when someone is actively resisting the officer,” Mr. Salmon said. “Pepper spray is a temporary irritant” that the courts historically have found to be “minimally invasive” as compared with a Taser, which is a Level 4 response, one step below the Level 5 designation for deadly force, he said.

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In response to what happened at the University of California Davis, community colleges throughout California have been reviewing their “public use policies” authorized under the state's education code, according to John Chino, senior vp at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in Aliso Viejo, Calif.

“We work with a lot of community college districts in California,” Mr. Chino said. “They don't have dorms. So the Occupy Wall Street protests created a little bit of a wrinkle for them. People are not supposed to stay overnight on community college campuses.”

“Because of Occupy Wall Street and the overnight issue,” the community colleges are reviewing their public use policies to avoid potential civil rights suits, he added.

“It's a pretty straightforward policy that spells out things that make (certain acts) defensible. If there was an issue, if the group claimed their rights were violated, they didn't have free speech rights, it spells out everything under the law that it has to do,” Mr. Chino said.