SOP to interact with civil authorities/civilians - Exercise question

[bongotastic]

Hi, I umpire a open-ended wargaming scenario. It started simple but, surprise, got a lot more interesting with time. I'm trying to get a handle on how COIN forces would interact with civil authorities such as police and fire depts. I'm also interested in getting a realistic idea of what triggers the evacuation of civilians from their homes.

I would greatly appreciate if someone can point me in the right direction to find material on the topic (if any). If you are interested in giving a quick opinion, I've got a few situations that I'm trying to find a reasonable solution for. Not much can be said in the open... the blue participant is subscribing to this forum.

Edit: I think that I probably should have posted this in the sub-forum on non-combatant. Sorry about that, could the mod move the post there?

[davidbfpo]

Bongotastic,

I would look at the published principles etc for Military Aid to the Civil Power (MACP) and Military Aid to Civil Community (MACC). Commonwealth terms yes, but in wide use under different names.

Not sure about SOP, but after recent events, i.e. Mumbai and 9/11, 7/7 previously there should be something in the open realm.

Remember the police and fire services work on different principles. After a bomb explosion for example ambulance and fire respond, putting saving life first, making allowance for safety and the police then secure and preserve the scene.

I would suspect in a COIN situation the security forces would dictate such scene access.

Finally I'd leave the thread here.

davidbfpo

[Rex Brynen]

what triggers the evacuation of civilians from their homes.

Meaning "being evacuated by the authorities" (for some reason), or "fleeing of their own accord"?

In the latter case, there is a simple answer: a substantial prospect of death or injury.

How populations perceive these risks, and how they weigh them against the potential costs of abandoning their homes, is an extraordinarily difficult and complex issue: it relates to threat perception, calculations about the nature of the conflict, available resources, and the availability of relatively safe location to which they can flee (and routes by which they can get there).

[bongotastic]

Meaning "being evacuated by the authorities" (for some reason), or "fleeing of their own accord"?

The first case. I'm thinking of cases where there is a need to prepare the terrain before an engagement and cases where an area is sown with explosives and other traps and is made unsafe to the population.

What I'm unclear is about the line where the COIN force pass the buck to NGOs, whether COIN forces must forcefully evacuate uncooperative civilians, which type of unit does what, this type of thing. This is actually becoming a big deal in the SadrCity MBX exercise.

MACP and MACC are good pointer. I'll start figging for this tonight. Fishing for info in the FMs and the Marine pubs didn't resulted in much.

thanks.