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Gearing Up for a Rowdy RNC, Cleveland Cops Pepper Spray Each Other

Instructor Matt Schaefer thought it best that police lock up their loaded guns before pepper spraying one another.

By Doug Livingston

Instructor Matt Schaefer thought it best that police lock up their loaded guns before pepper spraying one another.

With that bit of cautionary advice, three quarters of the dozen officers in plain clothes left the basement at Tactical Defense Training in Canton and returned unarmed. Instead of patrolling Kent, the University of Akron, Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Uniontown, Boston Heights or the state's highways, the policemen brushed up Tuesday on the best way to the use Mace-brand pepper spray, an "organically based, less-than-lethal chemical" agent made by the "biggest name in chemical munitions."

Known side effects include rapid breathing, paleness, screaming and submission.

With thousands of uninvited visitors coordinating protests and marches that will clog the streets and parks of downtown Cleveland, demand for pacifying products and the training to use them properly is partly driven by the expectation of trouble at the Republican National Convention in July.

Some of the officers participating in Tuesday's training have offered to help with security during the RNC this summer.

"I think there's definitely an increased interest regarding the RNC," said Schaefer, an Army veteran and police officer since 1994.

Doug Mulzig, director of sales for Mace, expects an uptick in orders in June. And Tactical Defense Training (TDT) plans to squeeze in three more sessions for area law enforcement to sharpen their pepper-spraying skills and accepted protocol before the RNC kicks off on July 18.

Authorities unloaded chemical agents on RNC protestors in St. Paul, Minn., in 2008. RNC protests 4 years ago in Tampa, Fla., were managed largely without incident, protestors and police recalled.

Most, if not all, of the officers participating Tuesday have willingly taken Mace to the face in the past as part of annual training. They take the experience back to their stations to impart on colleagues.

TDT, an international company that also sells military-like garb, partnered with Mace last year to streamline product placement and training.

Mace moved its headquarters to Cleveland from Pennsylvania three years ago. It now markets its tactical suppressants and riot gear -- from tear gas launcher rounds to smoke grenades to pepper spray and stun guns -- in 400 outlets for law enforcement agencies across the nation, including two in Cleveland and the TDT office in Canton.

Company executives said the move to Cleveland had less to do with the RNC and everything to do with a convenient manufacturing facility with an advantageous Midwest location that allows for timely shipping in all directions.

Feel the burn

After dousing a manikin named "Dumb Bob" in a goopy saline solution, the dozen officers took the pretend pepper spray to a well-ventilated gun range before using the real thing that afternoon.

Standing downstream from the Mace canisters, Miguel Hunt did his best to act drunk and noncompliant as fellow officers took turns giving forceful commands then subduing him with a gelatinous blast.

Hunt, a 13-year officer with the Summit County Sheriff's Office, fell to his knees in a red foam suit that earned him the nickname "Janky Iron Man." The men laughed, sometimes cussed and generally took the mock training seriously. But none underestimated the agent's effect.

One veteran officer from Summit County, who asked not to be named because he didn't have authorization to speak from his employer, clenched his fist. "That's what your eyelids feel like," he said. "And when you open them it's like someone just stuck in a needle.

"Then the nose runs like a rabid dog."

The pepper spray comes in an Axe body spray-sized can, most often found on officers' hips, or in a "Party" or "Riot" can version that shoots up to 20 feet.

Officers are told to unload every last drop, then throw the discarded can at the suspect's feet to give time to "transition" to a taser, riot shield, brute force or -- if necessary -- their sidearms. Once the suspect is face down on the ground, the officer applies handcuffs and stuffs the unruly subject in the back of a cruiser, at which point medical staff are notified.

"You have more issues with them snotting than anything else," Schaefer, the instructor, told the trainees. "If they say they're choking, it's usually the nasal discharge."

The spray, which comes in an array of consistencies for a wide range of deployment uses, is the top choice for crowd control or the submission of disorderly, often drunk, suspects -- assuming, as one officer noted, that the accused aren't amped up or numbed by drug use or have a tolerance to the agent's debilitating effect.

Hunt, who like others did not talk about his agency's commitment to the RNC security, has agreed to join horse-mounted and other officers who will converge on Cleveland this summer. It's his job, he said, stressing that pepper spray is usually his first choice when deciding which weapon to pull from his service belt.

"I'm a chemical guy," he said, removing safety glasses caked with the inactive solution -- which Mace sells for practice as well as a relief spray when the real-deal is used.

(c)2016 the Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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