Ireland

Ireland

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

"Law enforcement grade pepper-spray"

By accident, I have become somewhat of a expert on pepper-spray.
Did you know they have "law enforcement grade" pepper-spray?
That differs from the "college student who lives in a not great section of the city" pepper-spray.
There are obvious differences.

The "college student who lives in a not great section of the city" pepper-spray looks like a device used to make ones breath smell better.
The "law enforcement grade" pepper-spray has the look and feel of an industrial paint sprayer, something NASCAR might use to paint "Go Daddy" on the side of one of their muscle cars.

The law enforcement grade spray was used yesterday to cover the faces and bodies of the students at UC Davis who were non-violently protesting a raise in tuition. The campus police, who are basically one step removed from the title of night watchman, thought this was good opportunity to practice their paint spraying skills by calmly covering the students with their chemical weapon of choice.

I thought I was watching a protest in Cairo Egypt. What the hell is happening in our country?
And why are UC Davis campus police wearing riot gear and carrying chemical weapons?
Are the mechanical engineering students at Berkeley that much of a threat?
And what were the protesters doing to attract the attention of the arrogant over weight donut eating cop that calmly covered the students with pepper-spray?
They were sitting. Yep, sitting.
How dare they?

The rent a cop in question is seen calmly walking up and down the line of students who were sitting on the ground, spraying them as if he was walking down his driveway with a can of "weed-be-gone".

Imagine if one of those kids was your child.
The college President said a review of the police policies on campus is underway.
I think that is a super idea.

7 comments:

Reena said...

Saw the story also... couldn't believe it either! I guess they just don't get enough "action" so this looked good to them to practice their training.

Formerly known as Frau said...

As a parent it was tough to watch, as a human being it was also tough to watch! A NON violent protest with an agenda is our right.....really hard to turn on the news these days!!

Cait Throop said...

Ugly, really ugly. I have two in college but regardless this is extremely upsetting. I came of age during the Vietnam war protests...hard to watch this. We need to get angry.

Anonymous said...

Saw the video on tv and just shook my head. Someone needs their spray gun taken away and perhaps their job too.

Sueann said...

If my child had been in that situation...I would have been very upset. But mostly upset that he didn't move when ordered too. That is pushing buttons that you don't want to push!! The pepper spray shouldn't have been used that is for sure. But be careful whose buttons you push. It can bite you in the butt!!
Hugs
SueAnn

Jerral Miles said...

It's hard to believe what's happening in the Good Old U.S.of A... In California where I live, young citizens from age five up through college are taking a real hit. The San Diego Unified School District is 150 million dollars under budget, so the school year is being shortened by ten days... down from 180 to 170. In most other countries, the school year is more than 200 days a year. Public communities and universities are raising tuition dramatically. Now pepper spraying kids sitting passively in sympathy with other protesters. Wow!

Marilyn Miller said...

Thanks for the info. I don't watch the news much and missed this. This is not good.