Police to be issued with pepper sprays

Pepper sprays that can temporarily blind people are to be issued to officers in a British police force for the first time as an alternative to CS incapacitant.

Sussex Police is to be the first British force to adopt the hand-held pepper-spray devices, which were rejected by the Home Office six years ago for being potentially too dangerous. The devices are used by police in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Holland.

The "captor" sprays, which contain synthetic pepper mixed with water and alcohol, have a range of about five metres. They force assailants to close their eyes and cause a burning sensation on the face. Effects last from 30 minutes to an hour.

Sussex Police, with two other forces, has refused to equip officers with CS spray, despite promotion by the Home Office and other chief constables. Forty of the 43 forces in England and Wales use CS.

Pepper spray was rejected in 1996 by the former home secretary Michael Howard, because of concerns over the effects on pregnant women and people with breathing difficulties.Mr Howard approved the CS sprays a year later.

But the chief constables of Sussex, Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire forces have declined to use CS after complaints over the solvent that is mixed with the CS powder. Officers and bystanders have suffered burning and breathing problems after being squirted. The CS spray is also difficult to use in confined spaces, and people high on drugs have been found to be immune to the incapacitant.

Sussex Police has been doing a pilot study on pepper spray in the Crawley and Horsham districts.All 3,000 officers should be trained and equipped by the end of the year.