Watch Richland Police on ‘Spray Day’ With Pepper Spray “Training” Video

Richland Police have a unique way to further train their officers when it comes to suspect submission.

NEW RECRUITS ARE REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE IN SPRAY DAY

As part of their efforts to know the reaction this spray produces, as well as understand their role in suspect submission and apprehension, new RPD recruits are doused with a few shots of pepper spray.

Spray Day, according to Richland Police, is a great training method:

"Once a new officer is sprayed with it, they understand that it’s deployment is not made without careful consideration and empathy towards the person(s) it is used upon. Often times there is cross-contamination where our officers receive a dose of the OC when they have to place the sprayed suspect into custody. In any case, our officers fully understand the need to provide post-exposure care (air, water and time) for those affected by the spray."

This reminds me of firearms safety tips from older (and wiser) people I've known over the years, where they stressed respect and safety when using guns.  You've all heard "never point a gun at someone unless you're going to use it?"  And we all probably know someone who went pretty ballistic when they saw somebody mishandling a firearm.

Same goes for this stuff.  The more you know, the more effectively and correctly it will be utilized.

No doubt this will help Officers in the field and provide ultimately more safety for them and citizens as well.

The video is below.