New York Post – by ROCCO PARASCANDOLA
The NYPD hopes a more potent pepper spray will lead to fewer police shootings — but some critics say the upgraded aerosol is a recipe for disaster.
More than 19,000 cops so far have been given canisters of Sabre 5.0, a spray with a .67% concentration of major capsaicinoids, the chemicals that make peppers hot.
That’s more than three times the .21% concentration in the spray the NYPD has used for years. Both sprays are manufactured by Sabre Security Equipment Corp.
NYPD officials could not say how many times the new spray has been used in the six weeks or so it has been in use.
But they said that as the department works to track and investigate the use of force, it will know how often cops are using the spray, which is considered the preferable alternative to other uses of force from a physical takedown to shooting a gun.
NYPD guidelines permit the use of pepper spray when it is deemed necessary to bring someone resisting arrest into custody, to subdue an emotionally disturbed person who is resisting or for self defense against someone using force.
The .21% version — so weak it usually did not work on dogs, emotionally disturbed people or suspects high on certain drugs — was considered unreliable by many officers.
“A more effective pepper spray can help reduce the amount of force needed to gain control of a suspect or emotionally disturbed person,” NYPD Deputy Chief Edward Mullen told the Daily News.
“The new pepper spray will still be significantly weaker than what is used by many other police departments around the country.”
Indeed, nearly 100 other law enforcement agencies use a stronger spray, including the Suffolk County Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Boston Police Department — all of which use the strongest one on the market, a 1.33% concentration.
The NYPD said officers used pepper spray 284 times in arrest situations last year, down from 337 the year before.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board for the years 2010 through 2014 substantiated 13 allegations, just 2.3% of the 561 total pepper spray allegations.
In 2015, however, another 10 such allegations — 10% of all pepper spray complaints that year — were substantiated.
But NYPD critics say police too often misuse pepper spray, blasting it into crowds — or within three feet of a person’s face, which can cause cardiac or respiratory problems.
“Given that excessive force is all too common in the NYPD, we are concerned about officers having more powerful pepper spray,” said Christopher Dunn, associate director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Lawyer Ron Kuby, who represented one of the Occupy Wall Street protesters famously sprayed by Deputy Inspector Tony Bologna, said the new higher concentration was not the problem.
“It’s not properly used,” he said, “and it’s deployed somewhat promiscuously at people the cops don’t like.”
Joshua Moskovitz, another lawyer representing an OWS protesters in a pending lawsuit, said he hopes the NYPD will better train cops on how to use the spray.
“I’m sure there are occurrences where pepper spray is useful and has been used in an appropriate manner,” he said. “I’ve only seen it in a way that exacerbates the situation.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-hopes-new-pepper-spray-lead-shootings-article-1.2510683
*** Joshua Moskovitz, another lawyer representing an OWS protesters in a pending lawsuit, said he hopes the NYPD will better train cops on how to use the spray. ***
Dammit, there’s that word again: “training.” Every time there’s a case of the pigs using excessive force, many of their critics attribute the problem to “lack of training” or “improper training.”
Pigs don’t act like barbarians because of inadequate training, but because of their mentality. The job attracts egomaniacs, psychopaths, and sadists who wish to dominate and harm others, but who lack even the minimal courage needed to do so without the special protection of the “justice” system. Once on the job, they are quickly indoctrinated with the tribal mentality. They begin to feel like their authority, and the deference of sheeplike citizens, arises from themselves as individuals, rather than from the state that stands behind them. It’s much like the mentality of any other gang member, only without the balls.
“It’s much like the mentality of any other gang member, only without the balls.”
Agreed.
That will work in our favor.
“But NYPD critics say police too often misuse pepper spray, blasting it into crowds — or within three feet of a person’s face, which can cause cardiac or respiratory problems.”
Unintentionally, of course.
Fortunately, it won’t be much use against guns when the time comes.