The University of Windsor (U of W) is joining several Ontario universities who have already trained and equipped their campus security officers with pepper spray.
According to a CBC article published on Sept. 12 , the U of W is putting its entire staff of special constables through a two-day training course, and equipping them with pepper spray canisters. The training wraps up this week.
In an interview with the CBC, U of W campus safety spokesperson Const. Andrew Drouillard described pepper spray as relatively safe with little risk of injury to the officer and the assailant.
“It’s an organic-based product, it reduces injury to the suspect, but also—in the encounter—it reduces injury to the officer involved,” Drouillard told CBC.
According to Allan Burns, director of the Department of Campus Safety at Carleton University, campus officers at Carleton use pepper spray because it can be used in a variety of situations, including riot control and personal self-defence.
“Carleton University special constables carry oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray, also known as pepper spray, along with other use-of-force options such as handcuffs and retractable batons,” Burns said via email. “Our officers are trained in many methods of de-escalation including tactical communication.”
He added that pepper spray should only be used if all other forms of verbal de-escalation fail.
“The most commons effects [of pepper spray] are eye irritation causing tears, pain and closing of the eyes as well as runny nose and coughing. The effects are temporary and usually last about a half hour,” he said.
Burns added officers are trained to provide assistance to people suffering from the effects of pepper spray immediately after exposure.
Matthew Dunlop, vice-president of student advocacy at the University of Windsor Student Alliance (UWSA), said giving officers more training in verbal de-escalation tactics may be a better alternative to pepper spray use, as long as the correct training is put in place.
He said special constables, who have a “limited law enforcement role,” according to the Ottawa Police Service website, aren’t given the same training as police officers.
“That’s one thing that we were [worried about], was the competency of the police officers. We don’t mean that in a demeaning way,” Dunlop said. “If you’re not given the training, you’re not given the training.”
Dunlop said he believes many students at the U of W are unaware that their campus security has equipped campus officers with pepper spray.
George Rigakos, a Carleton professor specializing in the political economy of policing, said in a CBC article published last December that there is little evidence to support the use of pepper spray as a rational decision by campus security departments across Ontario.
“If the goal is to subdue someone, to arrest them and deliver them forthwith to a police officer, there’s just as many instances where pepper spray actually aggravates the situation and the person becomes more agitated and more angry,” Rigakos said in the article.
