Pop That Pepper

By James Rummel

It was way back circa 1990 or so. I was working for my local police department as a fingerprint technician, and just about every law enforcement agency in the country was urging their officers to use pepper spray.

Tear gas had been in use since just after World War I, but a number of suspects had died while in police custody after being sprayed. Wrongful death lawsuits were being filed, and most departments were tying to find ways to keep the lawyers at bay. Maybe they could find some measure of immunity if they switched to a kindler, gentler form of persuading the bad guys to give up and come peacefully.

It would eventually turn out that the suspects which died had serious medical problems which killed them, mostly heart attacks brought about by the drugs they had gulped down before the cops arrived. But it took some time for that to be determined, and police officers were urged to give up their tear gas sprays for pepper.

I would be the last person to claim that pepper spray is useless, but the sad fact of the matter is that it just isn’t as …Read the Rest

Source:: Hell In a Handbasket