Navigating Security at Mass Gatherings: How Law Enforcement Perceptions of Others’ Group Identity Shape Security Practices across Six European Countries

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Abstract

Balancing public safety, operational efficiency, and fundamental rights is a growing challenge for law enforcement and security agencies amid expanding surveillance and heightened security concerns at mass gatherings. This study examines how policing and security professionals across six European countries navigate these tensions, focusing on the role of group identity perceptions in shaping policing strategies, decision-making, and crowd management. Through 51 semi-structured interviews with law enforcement officers, local authorities, event organizers, and security managers, we introduce the concept of meta-identification — how professionals perceive others to identify with one’s group — in security research and explore its impact on security practices. We developed the Meta-Identification in Actor Safety and Security (MASS) conceptual framework for mass gatherings, which maps the structural (intra-group) and psycho-cultural (inter-group) processes that shape interactions among policing and security professionals, the public, and surveillance technologies. The findings suggest challenges related to interoperability, resilience, and intelligence-led policing, emphasizing the need for ongoing evaluation of intra- and inter-group dynamics to enhance accountability, improve security effectiveness, and raise public awareness of applicable rights.

Authors

• Anastasia Kordoni, Trilateral Research

• Joshua Hughes, Trilateral Research