U.S. Firm to Train Armenian Police in "Crowd Control" John Mayer, who heads the Anti-Drug and Legal Affairs Cooperation Division with the US Embassy in Armenia, today characterized the RoA Police Department’s handling of the March 1, 2008 public unrest in Armenia following the contested presidential elections as, "the tactics and doctrine of the Soviet period and not suitable for such instances." At the US Embassy today, John Mayer and Adam Leggatt, a member of Densus who served with the British Army, presented the outlines of a new program to train Armenian police in the correct and accepted practices of crowd control. United States to finance training of Armenian Police With the financial assistance of the US, the Densus Group, which bills itself as "first and foremost a decision-support organization, a firm that equips its clients with the capabilities to succeed in addressing their most pressing solutions by understanding what is happening around them" , will be training Armenian police in crowd control techniques. "The tactics that we teach are primarily based on the standards employed in Great Britain and Western Europe, but they have been modified to suit the peculiarities of the Armenian police force. What is essential in all the training is respect for the right of people to protest and to most effectively guarantee an absence of violence," said Mr. Mayer at today’s meeting with reporters. Densus Group representative - Cops must sometimes use force He went to say that if physical force must be used by law enforcement it is important that it be targeted only against those committing acts of violence. Mr. Mayer added that while it is sometimes difficult to single out those in a crowd who are actually committing violence, care must be taken not to use such measures as tear-gas which indiscriminately injure peaceful protestors as well. "During the training, we have created all possible scenarios ranging from purely peaceful protest to mass public unrest," said Mr. Mayer Adding that the strategies and tactics involved have been tailored to the needs of Armenia, Mr. Mayer said that, "We have focused greatest attention on the issue when the police are faced with crowds that are non-compliant but not offering violent resistance." Densus  - Private consulting firm founded by former US and British soldiers A visit to the Densus Group website offers the following statement regarding such crowd control management, "We can offer solutions that will allow your officers to deal with these situations in a proportionate, human rights compliant but yet effective fashion maintaining order without using unnecessary force." Densus Group was co-founded by a former US Marine Bart Kohler and Sam Rosenfeld, who served for eleven years as an infantry officer in the British Army’s Royal Irish Regiment. Their clients include the US Department of Justice – International Criminal Training and Assistance Program, US Marine Corps, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Washington State Patrol.