In your face!
Arizona Western College Law Enforcement Academy recruit Kyle Brown reacts to being sprayed directly in the face with oleoresin capsicum spray, or OC spray, or capsaicin spray, or as it is more commonly known, pepper spray, Thursday morning at the Ray Kroc Sports Complex training facility, 1280 W. Desert Sun Drive. The pepper spray experience is part of the recruits’ Defensive Tactics training, which is part of the academy’s curriculum, and is a requirement to become a certified law enforcement officer. Yuma County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Sam Pavlak, one of the academy instructors, was in charge of spraying the recruits. Each of the 10 recruits went through the drill, which included having to deal with three, separate law enforcement situations immediately after being sprayed, before retreating to the decontamination area. Brown is a Mohave County Sheriff’s Office recruit. The class is scheduled to graduate March 4.
Yuma Police Department Recruit Training Officer Zach Probert (right) helps recruit Alias Murphy find the decontamination area after pepper spray was sprayed in Murphy’s face and he completed three law enforcement situation tasks. Murphy is a Colorado River Indian Tribes Fish and Game recruit.
Recruit Gabriela Sumner practices using pepper spray on a target on the wall, which happens to be a photo of AWC Law Enforcement Academy Director Alfonso Zavala. Sumner is a Kingman Police Department recruit.
ABOVE: Kingman Police Department recruit Grace Hinkle (center), after being sprayed with pepper spray, does her best to complete the third task after being sprayed, that of confronting an armed suspect, handcuffing the suspect and searching the suspect for any weapons. Here Hinkle holds a knife found on the suspect. Coaching Hinkle are Arizona Western College Law Enforcement Academy Recruit Training Officers Nathan Hunter (left), with Yuma County Sheriff’s Office, and Zach Probert (right), with Yuma Police Department.
LEFT: La Paz County Sheriff’s Office recruit Allen Salee does his best to recover from having pepper spray sprayed in his face.