Why cops overuse pepper spray
Police officers value their authority, and get incensed when people defy their orders, said Brandon Keim at Wired.com.
Brandon Keim
Wired.com
If you put a can of pepper spray on a cop’s belt, said Brandon Keim, chances are that he’ll use it. When police started using the powerful skin and eye irritant in the 1990s, it was supposed to serve as a last-resort alternative to subduing resisting suspects with violence. But that wasn’t the case when a cop recently sprayed the faces of seated, peaceful Occupy Wall Street protesters at the University of California, Davis. Studies have shown that when cops have pepper spray or Tasers on their belts, they’re more likely to use them in nonviolent situations—simply to prove who’s boss.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Police officers value their authority, and get incensed when people defy their orders. So even when people passively resist—as was the case at UC Davis—cops instinctively reach for the spray can. But officers would get better results, and generate fewer embarrassing videos, if they saved the pepper spray for violent offenders. At the police academy, they’re taught to use reason with nonviolent arrestees, or, should that fail, to use noninjurious force to carry them off to jail. Smart policing relies on “brains, not brawn”—or pepper.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - April 22, 2025
Cartoons Tuesday's cartoons - Earth Day, pollen season, and more
By The Week US
-
Wine-tasting in Tuscany
The Week Recommends From biodynamic vineyards to historic cellars, the picturesque region is a wine lover's dream
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK
-
Ukraine-Russia: is peace deal possible after Easter truce?
Today's Big Question 'Decisive week' will tell if Putin's surprise move was cynical PR stunt or genuine step towards ending war
By The Week UK
-
Viewpoint: Michael S. Teitelbaum and Jay M. Winter
feature From The New York Times: “Nearly half of all people now live in countries where women, on average, give birth to fewer than 2.1 babies...
By The Week Staff
-
Snowden’s silence on Putin
feature If Edward Snowden truly is a moral paragon, then he should announce that he can no longer stomach Vladimir Putin’s oppressive behavior.
By The Week Staff
-
The irrelevance of the United Nations
feature Once again, the United Nations has been “rendered impotent by a small group of thugs.”
By The Week Staff
-
Millions of closeted gay men
feature “What percent of American men are gay?”
By The Week Staff
-
The smug confidence of libertarians
feature Why are most libertarians white dudes?
By The Week Staff
-
Seeing racism for what it is
feature Riley Cooper’s case shows just how poorly he and most other Americans understand “what a racist is.”
By The Week Staff
-
Searching for a libertarian paradise
feature Not one of the world’s 193 sovereign states—not even a tiny one—has adopted a full-on libertarian system.
By The Week Staff
-
Viewpoint: Juliette Kayyem
feature From The Boston Globe: “It is now clear that the Tsarnaev brothers had no strategic plan but to kill in a very public fashion....
By The Week Staff