Berkeley OK’S limited pepper spray use
Police denied ability to disperse crowds with it
BERKELEY, Calif. — The Berkeley City Council on Tuesday gave police permission to use pepper spray to repel demonstrators attacking officers and others during violent protests that have repeatedly hit the city this year during political protests.
The 6-3 vote by the council came ahead of another planned speech Thursday at the University of California, Berkeley.
The city banned pepper spray in 1997 as a crowd-control weapon, though most law enforcement agencies permit officers to use it to disperse violent crowds, Berkeley police Chief Andrew Greenwood said.
Greenwood sought such permission at an emergency council meeting, saying it is preferable to batons and tear gas, which the city is allowed to use but disperses far wider than pepper spray.
The council on Tuesday rejected its use for crowd control but agreed to modify the ban and expand police powers to use pepper spray.
The council said pepper spray “shall not be used as a crowd control technique to disperse a crowd or move a crowd,” the motion stated. “Police may use pepper spray upon specific individuals within a crowd who are committing acts of violence upon police or others.”
Berkeley police carry small canisters of pepper spray for use on individual suspects. But the police chief said officers need permission to use bigger canisters if necessary.
Officers were preparing for violence as soon as Thursday, when conservative political commentator and former Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro appears on campus and again later this month, when conservative figures have been invited to speak.
“It is a request made of urgency,” Greenwood said.
Dozens of people lined up at City Hall to oppose arming Berkeley police with the larger canister of pepper spray, saying it is too easy for officers to use and has the potential to be used on peaceful protesters.
Some cities nationwide banned pepper spray after several high-profile incidents of police using it on peaceful protesters. An incident in which students at the University of California, Davis, were pepper-sprayed during a peaceful demonstration in 2014 led to a $1 million legal settlement for the protesters.