Janq

As featured at CorrectionsOne.com:

August 05, 2003

Pepper Spray Effectiveness - NIJ Report

The research team at NIJ has provided two new studies on the use of pepper spray in arrest situations. This research should be read by any training officer, legal officer or those interested in the effectiveness (and the liability) of using pepper spray to subdue uncooperative or combative suspects.

A summary of the research follows:

The North Carolina study found that the number of injuries to police officers and suspects declined after pepper spray was introduced. Complaints that the police used excessive force also declined.

The study of in-custody deaths concluded that pepper spray contributed to death in two of the 63 cases, both involving people with asthma. In the other cases, the researcher concluded that death was caused by the arrestee''s drug use, disease, positional asphyxia, or a combination of these factors.

The studies may be found at either of these sites:

Text Version: http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/nij/195739.txt
PDF Version: http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/195739.pdf

Source - http://www.correctionsone.com/produc...ss-NIJ-Report/

- Janq

__________________
"Killers who are not deterred by laws against murder are not going to be deterred by laws against guns. " - Robert A. Levy
Monday, March 12, 2007 -- Op Ed -- The Washington Post

Janq

Police Marksman: TigerLight Non-lethal Defense System

The following article appeared in Police Marksman. PoliceOne does not favor one vendor over others, but provides a forum for the posting and sharing of information.

TigerLight Non-lethal Defense System

Click here to download the FULL PDF version of this article, which includes pictures and additional information.

By PMA Staff
Courtesy of Police Marksman

With all the new non-lethal and less lethal technologies in the law enforcement arena, the TigerLight® Non-lethal Defense System seems like a relatively simple tool. Yet, there are many who feel that this Light With A Bite™ could be the most used non-lethal weapon in law enforcement. Think about it-a light is in an officer's hand far more than any other police tool-and if that light is also a non-lethal weapon, it could well be true.

One thing is certainly true. An officer does not normally approach a vehicle on an unknown risk traffic stop with a Taser, PepperBall gun, bean bag gun, less lethal shotgun or even pepper spray in his hand. Not that they aren't all great tools. They are and have proven highly effective in thousands of situations. It just isn't considered appropriate in many such situations to brandish a weapon. However, when most incidents occur,(at night) it is entirely appropriate for an officer to approach these same subjects with what appears to be a flashlight in his hand.

Another important characteristic of this unit is derived from the method of transitioning from illuminating and visually impairing a subject to spraying the subject. It has proven to have several unique and significant advantages. When the officer drops the head of the Tigerlight down to spray, the subject is still illuminated from the light's reflection off the ground, if within pepper spray range. However, during the split second between the moment the light is rotated down and the moment the spray hits the subject, he is virtually blind as his night vision has been taken away by the sudden change from intense light to relative darkness. As a result, the subject doesn't see the spray coming toward his face.

Because of this, he is unlikely to duck, cover, or even close his eyes, greatly enhancing the effectiveness of the pepper spray. If the light were still pointed directly at the subject at the time the spray was deployed, he would likely be turning his head away and covering his eyes, greatly reducing the effectiveness of the spray. Instead, in case after case officers have reported that when the light is dropped down for that split second, the subject actually tries to reacquire visual on the officer, leaning into the light and opening his eyes. The pepper spray hits him squarely in the face with eyes wide open.

In training exercises, length of temporary blindness ranged from between 4-6 seconds, during which time the subject was unable to reacquire his sight. A separate test was per- formed in near total d a r k n e s s in a comp l e t e l y e n c l o s e d structure.

The subject was dressed in black from head to toe. He was positioned approx. 10-12 feet from the light and the light was pointed directly toward the ground. The light reflecting off the ground made the subject clearly visible-also, the officer did not have to give up his gun hand. Ordinarily, the officer would not only have to completely give up his lethal force option, he would have to further exacerbate the situation by taking precious time to retrieve his pepper spray from his duty belt with one hand and get it into spray position. In the process he would telegraph his intentions, while giving the subject time to duck, run or attack. Additionally, many trainers have pointed out the significant benefit of having to use large-motor-muscle movement to transition from illuminating a subject to spraying him, thus reducing the likelihood of accidental spraying in stressful situations. If an accidental spraying were to occur, the spray would shoot up into the air, missing the subject and officer.

Prior to the introduction of the TigerLight, there was a dangerous gap in the force continuum. This concern was expressed by Morton Feldman, a former Vice President of The International Association of Chiefs of Police when he said "…an officer may only have a second to decide whether to go for the mace or the gun, and if he makes the wrong decision, it may be his funeral."

Without the Tigerlight, an officer must choose between lethal and non-lethal force. He can't hold his flashlight, gun and OC in his hands all at once, unless he's using the Tigerlight. Although many departments train their officers in the use of a flashlight as an impact weapon, some have switched to smaller, less powerful and less durable lights to avoid potential lawsuits. The TigerLight virtually eliminates that risk by making a lower level of force more readily accessible. Constructed of aircraft aluminum with Type III Hard Coat Anodized finish, the Tigerlight is 11 inches long and 23 oz. It has a six-cell nickel metal hydride power pack with no memory, gold plated circuitry, lamp module and battery pack impact damper, a secure car-mountable snap-in charger, wall transformer and car adapter. The two-ounce drop-in pepper spray canisters are available in most major brands including Sabre, First Defense, Body Guard, Freeze+P, Punch II and Fox Labs. The lights are equipped for either cone sprays or stream sprays, but can easily be changed by switching the nozzle. Foam and other types of sprays can also be used. An eight-hour training certification course is also available.

It's not difficult to see why the Tigerlight may be the most used non-lethal weapon in law enforcement. The Tigerlight has proven itself to be the answer to a problem that likely occurs every day-that is deciding what level of force and having the ability to transition to that level in a split second. With the Tigerlight in hand, an officer can keep lethal and non-lethal force options at the ready.

Sidebar 1:

"A traffic stop went haywire as they often do. It was my first evening with the TigerLight flashlight. The driver was to be taken into custody on drug charges, but decided to flee. With the TigerLight in hand, I was able to spray him. After a short pursuit, he jumped out of the car and fired at my partner at point-blank range, but missed due to the effect of the pepper spray. He wildly fired seven shots. We returned fire and the subject was incapacitated and arrested. I would never have been able to spray him had I been using my regular duty flashlight. Not only was time an issue. I would have had to use my gun hand to spray him."

Officer Richard Braskett Portland, Oregon Police Dept.

3:00 AM - TRAFFIC STOP

The passenger, a convict, reportedly told the driver he was going to kill the two officers. Braskett spotted the passenger's weapon and yelled "gun!" while retreating to cover. The driver kicked his door open. Not knowing who had the gun, Sgt. Teig sprayed the driver with his TigerLight as he was exiting the vehicle. Running toward the back of the vehicle, he drew his sidearm while spraying over the top of the vehicle, incapacitating the passenger as he exited with his weapon in hand. It was later determined that the passenger had intent to kill the officers, while the driver wanted nothing to do with that and was only trying to exit the vehicle when the passenger reached for the gun. It was fortunate that Sgt. Teig had immediate access to non-lethal force and did not have to shoot the driver.

Officer Richard Braskett & Sgt. Randy Teig Portland, Oregon Police Dept.

Sidebar 2:

EXPERT OPINION OF THE TIGERLIGHT
"In my opinion as a former police officer, use-of-force trainer, use-of-force expert witness, and as a trial attorney who defends peace officers in use-of-force cases-the option of having a device available in one hand which serves the purpose of providing illumination and pepper spray without requiring officers to acquire (in split seconds) an additional alternative is likely to reduce the need for higher levels of force. Additionally, in the split seconds typically available to officers in confrontations, the fact is that maintaining a free hand for the potential use of their firearm is an added bonus as opposed to initially requiring them to make a split second decision to reach for OC instead of their gun in rapidly evolving circumstances. Finally, the TigerLight is also useful as an impact device when officers are assaulted and thus provides three levels of protection for the officers."

Mildred "Missy" O'Linn
Manning & Marder, Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez LLP

Source - Police Marksman: TigerLight Non-lethal Defense System

- Janq

__________________
"Killers who are not deterred by laws against murder are not going to be deterred by laws against guns. " - Robert A. Levy
Monday, March 12, 2007 -- Op Ed -- The Washington Post

Janq

Arizona Department of Public Safety And Phoenix Police Department
Oleoresin Capsicum Staff Study
Completed March 2003
http://www.policeone.com/pdfs/AZ_OC_Staff%20Study.pdf

~~~

National Institute of Justice
Evaluation of Pepper Spray
by Steven M. Edwards, John Granfield, and Jamie Onnen
"Key Findings: q OC spray successfully incapacitated humans in 156 out of 174. (90 percent) confrontations."
Sources:
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/162358.pdf
Evaluation of Pepper Spray | National Institute of Justice

~~~

Toxicologic evaluation of pepper spray as a possible weapon for the Dutch police force: risk assessment and efficacy.

Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1998 Dec;19(4):309-16.Click here to read

Busker RW, van Helden HP.
TNO Prins Maurits Laboratory, Rijswijk, The Netherlands. busker@pml.tno.nl

"Use by the U.S. police was successful in subduing aggressive individuals in 90% of cases, and a reduction of injury to both police and arrested individuals was noted. In general, pepper spray appeared to be a relatively safe weapon with small risk of causing acute physical harm."

Source - Toxicologic evaluation of pepper spray as a possib...[Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1998] - PubMed Result

~~~

Evaluation of Pepper Spray for the Winnipeg
Police Department
Source - http://www.css.drdc-rddc.gc.ca/cprc/tm/tm-11-94E.pdf

Most every source I've ever read past and current indicates OC/CS product to be a largely effective means of incapacitation if not at a minimum means of threat functionality reduction.
Again no solution including firearms has a 100% record.

- Janq

__________________
"Killers who are not deterred by laws against murder are not going to be deterred by laws against guns. " - Robert A. Levy
Monday, March 12, 2007 -- Op Ed -- The Washington Post

Defensive Arms

Pepper gel has several advantages over pepper spray:
Mace Pepper Gel

__________________

Thumper

It's a good tool when combined with proper technique and practice!

__________________

USMC 1968-1971

ALWAYS carry! - NEVER tell!

"Don't go to stupid places, with stupid people, and do stupid things!"

Karter

LEO use it because its so much less likely to get their department sued than subduing an unarmed person with blows from a club. Even if the spray doesn't work and they have to resort to cracking skulls they have a better time in court having tried a less damaging technique first.

Remember LEO have to constantly wade into confrontational situations; this is not something a civilian CCW would do. Still I think it is a good tool though just not as useful as it is for the LEO.

doctorw

Pepper spray is a good option when you cannot carry a gun. Sometimes you can still carry a knife in that case. It is always good to have a variety of self-defense options.

J Bowen

Great idea to carry pepper spray too.
I carry SpitFire Pepper Spray. If you dont
have a good knife get one of those as well.
I carry a SOG Flash II. It is high quality, all black, assisted
opening and very sharp right out of the box.
Oh and of course a good small LED flashlight

Janq

Yep. ^^

There are multiple different types of product out there amongst the current and modern pepper spray market.
Variations in content (OC and OC/CS mixtures), OC concentration, types of applicator/nozzle design (stream, spray, fogger), types of product composition (wet, foam and gel), as well as canister capacity toward use/reuse and canister size/format for carry from small keychain type to the Kimber 'LifeAct' to LEO applicable multi-use canisters to large bug spray style canisters with trigger activators that are used in jails & prisons as well as are good for civilian use toward home defense (!).

Often folks comment that ehh pepper spray doesn't work because of X, Y or Z specific instance reason that it was used on a BG or even themself and it didn't make them roll into a ball and weep like an infant.
Okay. But by that exact same logic one could say that all handguns are terrible and pointless for use because not every person shot sis stopped and it even at times requires multiple shots if not a full magazine to slow down muchless stop a BG. Or that one time they or some BG was shot with a .380 and didn't fold up in to a heap DRT, so therefore all handguns are terrible.
Silly.

Statistical analysis does not support such false logic never mind that of anecdotal evidence via experience to a broad degree.
Having say three experiences using a product on a person to indicate effectiveness or not, is not enough to form an opinion either way. But by having hundreds if not thousands of such experiences as are noted across the total of my citations above and very many other international statistical examinations of same...Then one from that can form an opinion.

Clearly handguns work even as they do not stop every person every time...and exact same can and is widely stated by most every subject matter expert as related to use of OC and OC/CS combination product.
And as to concern about how weather such as wind direction and even rain might affect the products delivery system and overall functionality, that is no different than same as related to use of a firearm. As with anything else one has to have training and understanding as to how to deploy the solution choice and to apply it under conditions that are closer to optimal for both the product and the situation including environment.

IMHO a good amount of strictly civilian cases of criminal victimization be it mugging, rape, even fisticuff physical assault and numerous home defense cases as have been featured in media reports posted at this forum could have been addressed with a high degree of functionality had the GG/victim been in possession of an applicable type of OC or OC/CS product delivery system.

Of course having a firearm available is generally a good idea but not all if even most situations are valid toward leaping up the threat ladder to lethal force, as LEO know by way of training and civilians should learn & understand.

There is a ton more of well researched and scientific analysis of pepper spray product and use by LEO and governments (for example as used in jails and prisons) available.
Folks should keep an open mind first (!) and seek out such information, then actually read the reports through and through noting their own statements as related to pros and cons along with final result reporting.

- Janq

__________________
"Killers who are not deterred by laws against murder are not going to be deterred by laws against guns. " - Robert A. Levy
Monday, March 12, 2007 -- Op Ed -- The Washington Post

Bones129

First off most police departments don't carry pepper spray. Pepper spray is hot, it burns, most people can fight through it. Myself and every officer on my department carries Freeze+P, which is only avalible to LE. It's a mixture of OC and CS, which is much more painful and if it gets in your eyes it will cause your eyes to close involuntarily and you won't be able to open them unless you prey them open with your fingers, and if you can't see it's much harder to fight. Now, even Freeze+P won't work on everyone, for example someone on crack is likely to be uneffected by anything other than a taser or a bullet to the head. So why do police carry mace, when they could carry a taser that will work on even people high on crack? I carry both. A taser is great for a single target that can be on whatever and he'll still go down, but if you got 20 people fighting in a parking lot you can take your taser cartridge off and start drive stunning people or you can sit upwind of the fight and empty a can of mace and let the wind take it through the entire crowd and watch as everyone starts coughing and scattering. It's just one more tool that can be used when the situation is right.