Safariland Blog - Less Lethal

OC Spray Training - To Be or Not to Be Sprayed

terry.smith2@baesystems.com (Terry Smith) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:00:00 -0400

Few, if any, officers are overjoyed when coming into contact with OC Spray (oleoresin capsicum). The taste and intense burning sensation in the eyes or face is unpleasant to say the least. Regardless, in essentially every training course on OC Spray, students are regularly exposed to OC or worse.

For example, the United States military has used a time honored and progressive educational approach to introduce recruits to ‘gas warfare’. It begins with classroom instruction, equipping them with protective mask and, if necessary clothing, and then having them practice getting in and out of that equipment prior to entering a ‘gas house’ where they are exposed to various chemical agents.

Why do instructors do this to their students? Well, in the case of the military, recruits that pass in and out of the ‘gas house’ gain confidence in their ability to survive should they ever be exposed to ‘gas warfare’ on the battlefield. Similarly, officers who work in the criminal justice profession will likely be exposed to OC spray at some point. Unfortunately, OC doesn’t take sides and because it takes the form of a spray, it tends to drift everyone and affects everyone, be it Good Guy or Bad Guy.

In a worst case scenario, such as this news event in Winnipeg, Canada shows, law enforcement officers may not be the only individuals to have an incident with OC Spray. The most common area affected by OC is a person’s vision. However, breathing can be affected too whenever OC enters a person’s lungs. If you aren’t prepared for the effects of OC, the delay in combat can give a combatant enough time to flee or worse.

In early OC training for officers, officers were sprayed in a manner that would affect mostly their vision. Once ‘blinded’, they were directed to water by a fellow officer so they could begin to decontaminate by applying copious amounts of water in hopes of eliminating, as quickly as possible, that intense burning/stinging sensation in their eyes, as well as on their face. This was the state of OC training in those early days, which was good for exposure, but not for officer survival. Officers often believe that once blinded they were helpless and had to be guided to safety. Again, this belief doesn’t build the kind of confidence officers have to have in order to survive on the job.

Today, many trainers have created specific learning objectives for OC training whereby officers learn how to ‘fight through’ OC induced ‘blindness’ by rapid blinking. Officers then learn how to transition to performing various empty-hand skills like punches or knee strikes and/or using less-lethal technologies like a baton to protect themselves, as well as their firearm, from an attacker. This ‘dry-run’ practice leads to the actual spraying and demonstration of skills for self-defense and, when possible, subject is taken into custody.

It is not a case of if officers will be exposed to OC spray either directly or indirectly but rather when it will happen to them on the job. Consequently, officers have to learn how to survive and win in an actual OC environment that they or someone else has exposed them too.

Selecting an OC Aerosol Delivery System

james.morgan5@baesystems.com (Jim Morgan) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:15:00 -0400

To get the most effect out of your OC aerosol, you need to be aware and trained on how it should be deployed. Is the aerosol in a Foam, Stream, or Fog delivery system? With this information, a subject or assailant can be targeted appropriately and the best effect will be achieved from the aerosol.

Foam is intended to stick to the target area and stay there, lessening cross contamination.
Stream is an excellent delivery system as it is target specific and can be easily “aimed” at a subjects’ eyes – the intended target area.
Fog is another option, designed to affect the eyes and respiratory system by utilizing smaller particles in a mist-like pattern.

Each form has great advantages, but also individual disadvantages. Foam, although designed to stick to the subject, can also be thrown back at the officer. It can also cause smooth flooring surfaces to become slick. Stream is target specific and therefore requires the user or operator to be target specific when deploying. Fog is greatly affected by the environment and a breeze can cause cross contamination.

All OC and its various delivery forms are intended to create a pause in combat, giving the officer an eventual opportunity to complete an arrest. To quote a buddy of mine; “OC is not intended to be Karate in a can”, but if used properly and in conjunction with other tools and tactics, OC is a very effective tool that can be used to provide both officer and subject safety.

OC Aerosol - How hot is hot?

james.morgan5@baesystems.com (Jim Morgan) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:25:00 -0400

Various Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) aerosols are often touted as having the highest SHU levels on the market. But what is SHU and how is it measured? SHU stands for Scoville Heat Units and is a standard used to measure the perceived heat of a substance. For example, a bell pepper has an SHU rating of 0, a jalapeño pepper has a rating of 2,500 to 8,000, and a habañero has a rating of 100,000 to 350,000 SHU. Typical law enforcement grade pepper sprays report an SHU level between 5-5.3 million.

How is SHU level determined?
SHUs are measured by diluting a solution of pepper extract in sugar syrup until the “heat” is no longer detectable to a panel of tasters, in accordance with policies put forth by the American Spice Trade Association. The degree of dilution determines its SHU measure. For example, a bell pepper, which contains no capsaicin has an SHU rating of 0 because no heat was detected by the panel of tasters, even undiluted. Conversely, a habañero has a rating of 100,000 to 350,000 SHU, indicating the extract had to be diluted over 100,000 times before the “heat” was undetectable. The greatest weakness of the SHU level is that it is imprecise, since it relies on human subjectivity.

Capsaicin Content – A better measure
Rather than use a subjective scale, the only “percentage” one needs to remember is the percentage of major capsaicinoids also called % MC. The % MC can be physically determined in a laboratory, and is not a perceived unit of measure and is the only reasonable and repeatable way to quantify the level of heat-causing ingredients in an OC aerosol. But how hot does a formulation need to be in order to be effective and cause a momentary pause in combat?

How hot is hot enough?
Manufacturers of OC aerosols have gone to great lengths to determine the ideal % MC for use in law enforcement. If the capsaicin content is too low, the formulation may not have the desired effect on the subject, putting the officer at risk. A greater level of capsaicin content will be perceived as being hotter to the subject, causing more pain, resulting in a greater pause in combat or a more passive subject. However, the greater capsaicin content may result in increase decontamination times. It is widely understood that .02% capsaicin content is the most effective formulation to cause a pause in combat, while mitigating liability and risk. Recently however, some OC formulations have been developed that contain .04% capsaicin in an effort to create a faster reaction time and a longer pause in combat.