UK police deploy CS sprays (feature)
01 March 1996
UK police have shunned calls to abandon CS spray trials, following the death on 16 March of a Ghanaian born asylum seeker, Ibrahima Sey, after he was sprayed with the incapacitant. The six month trials, which involve some 2,500 officers from 16 authorities in England and Wales, began on 1 March, following repeated postponements because of fears about the safety of both the irritant and propellant used. A Metropolitan police inspector suffered eye burns during tests in Northampton (1)
It has also emerged that Dr Jill Tan, the Home Office scientist who gave these devices the all clear, has suffered blisters to her face when sprayed with the CS product during tests. Self-Defence expert Inspector Pete Boatman who was training the instructors when the accident happened has now been banned from training officers outside his region because his Chief Constable is worried about being sued by people injured by the incapacitant. Chief Constable Ted Crew is reported in the Independent as saying, "I am advised that were there to be a civil claim resulting from the use of CS spray, I might find that because we had trained the officers using it, I had some liability." (2)
The introduction of hand held gas sprays yields an offensive as well as a defensive capacity and in the UK, must be governed by existing policy on the introduction of new chemical weapons for domestic control. This policy arose out of a furore in 1969, when despite assurances that CS would only ever be used in very limited and local circumstances (such as hostage taking by escaped lunatics) it was indiscriminately used on a massive scale against Catholics in the Bogside, in Northern Ireland. Since then the policy of successive governments has been that new chemical weapons should be biomedically assessed more akin to drugs rather than weapons and that all tests on the possible dangers of carcinogenicity or mutagenicity should be published in the open scientific press in full, before any authorisation for police procurement or deployment is given. However, the UK police have admitted that they are deploying CS sprays despite the test programme remaining incomplete.
Harmless Weapons?
Scientists at the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down have always pointed out the possible dangers of new chemical weapons for public order control. "As with other foreign chemicals to which man may be exposed, no matter how detailed, extensive and carefully effected are the pre-clinical toxicity investigations and observations in controlled human exposures, there can be no complete guarantee from such studies that there is absolute safety in use for a given chemical." (3)
Such caution is well founded. There is evidence that CS can cause permanent but non-lethal lung damage at comparatively low doses (4). Earlier inhalation toxicology studies indicate that at high levels of CS exposure can cause chemical pneumonitis and fatal pulmonary edoema (5) as well as second degree burns with blistering and severe dermatitis (6)
In situations where high exposure to CS has occurred, heart failure, hepatocellur damage and death have been reported (Himsworth-Committee Report). Some evidence also exists that people subject to repeated doses of CS develop tolerance, further increasing their level of exposure. The development of tolerance to CS has been reported by Porton researchers in studies on human volunteers. (7) Used on those with asthma, taking other drugs, or subject to restraining techniques which restrict the breathing passages, there is a risk of death.
Sub-Lethal Weapons - The Next Generation
US multinationals are currently marketing a new generation of sub-lethal weapons for internal security, control and restraint and are actively seeking new markets. This technology includes kinetic impact weapons, new chemical disabling weapons based on CN, CS and OC (Peppergas); remote control electrical shocking systems (the REACT belt); electronic sh