Deputies to Pack Pepper Spray Instead of Mace

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies have joined their Oxnard and Simi Valley counterparts in using an oil extract from the cayenne pepper plant to subdue suspects who threaten deputies with physical harm.

Under a pilot program of the state Department of Justice, oleoresin capsicum, known as “OC” or “pepper spray,” is replacing chemical Mace as the primary non-lethal method of disarming would-be attackers, Ventura County Sheriff Larry Carpenter said Monday.

“It’s truly effective in that you’re able to control violent subjects,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Craig Husband. “There’s going to be less incidents of injuries to officers and suspects, so it’s a win-win situation.”

Oxnard and Simi Valley police began replacing Mace with the pepper spray earlier this year after initial tests with limited numbers of officers.

“It’s done what it’s designed to do,” said Simi Valley Police Sgt. John Wilcox. “It’s not going to place handcuffs on the guy and put him in a police car, but it does give us an edge.”

Like Mace, pepper spray immediately stuns combative subjects by temporarily blinding them and burning their skin. When inhaled, the pepper spray also reduces the ability to breathe, which makes it more difficult to continue a fight, Carpenter said.

Unlike Mace, the pepper spray is particularly effective in subduing suspects on drugs who are oblivious to pain from baton swipes or other means of force, Husband said.

“There will be situations where a deputy will be forced to use personal weapons or the baton to defend against attack,” he said. “But when the situation allows, the use of OC should end non-lethal confrontations without injury to either party.”

The small metal canisters have an indefinite shelf life, another benefit over Mace that remains effective for only two years, he said.

“After it’s been used it can be disposed of like anything else,” Husband said. “Mace is considered a hazardous material and has to be disposed of through hazardous material companies and that’s very expensive.”

Husband said deputies already have used the canisters nine times since full-scale training was begun last month at the sheriff’s training academy in Camarillo. So far, he said, one-fourth of the county’s 600 deputies have been trained in using the spray.

The Sheriff’s Department will spend about $30 each to arm its deputies with pepper spray canisters, including a holster, Husband said. By not buying Mace, the cost to the department will be about the same, he said.

Two companies are certified by state officials to sell the pepper spray, which can be marketed only to law enforcement agencies, said Kati Corsaut, a spokeswoman in the state attorney general’s office.

On Sunday, however, Simi Valley police arrested two women on misdemeanor charges of illegally selling pepper spray at a weekly swap meet. Officials confiscated 61 canisters and are asking anyone who might have bought some to turn them over to Simi Valley police.

Los Angeles Police Department officers and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies began a similar program earlier this year, and report that the spray stopped suspects more effectively than Mace.

Ventura County Risk Manager Robi Klein welcomed the pepper spray as a means of better protecting sheriff’s deputies. Between 1987 and 1992, 281 deputies suffered on-the-job injuries that might have been avoided with the new spray, he said.

“I hope it works,” he said Monday. “If there’s a reduction of injuries you’re going to have a reduction in claims and costs to the workers’ comp system.”