"Experimental" pepper spray used as weapon
01 August 2002
The introduction of new police equipment in Holland is done in a typical "Poldermodel" way. "Consensus" lies at the heart of this model, in which experiments, research and debate are prolonged until eventually introduction is inevitable. Although pepper spray is already being used throughout the Netherlands, it is still being portrayed by the authorities as "an experiment" that is due to conclude in 2006. This contradiction is further compounded by the fact that the pepper spray currently used, is produced by a different company than the pepper-spray which was extensively tested by the TNO, the Dutch Institute for Applied Scientific Research. This year, every police officer will be issued with pepper spray, and even police reservists are issued with the spray to take home on return from their annual training. One person has already died this year after having been sprayed with the gas.
Despite explicit rules for the use of pepper spray, it is frequently used by police as a means to control situations. In February this year, there was a minor fight in a squat in Amsterdam between the squatters and the house owner. The house owner had his foot in the door but could not get further. When the police arrived, the first thing they did was use pepper-spray to "control" the situation. According to regulations, the distance between the police officer and the person who is sprayed should be at least 1 meter. In a recent documentary (Saturday 29 June 2002 with Aart Zeeman) on the Rotterdam police force however, one could see that a policewoman was spraying people from a distance of about 20 centimetres. Other precautionary measures are not met. It is stipulated that every police car should have special equipment to aid the people who came into contact with the spray, but in the majority of cases, the victims are only helped at the police station.
On 9 May 2002, a man was arrested and died after pepper spray was used against him. The National Department of Criminal Investigation (Rijksrecherche) has begun investigating the death. Meanwhile an internal police investigation reached the conclusion, four days after the incident and a forensic examination, that the death was not the result of police action. Family and friends were furious and broke the windows of the local police station.
The use of pepper spray is not restricted to the police. On 27 June 2002, the Federation of Parents of Mentally Disabled People announced that in the Groot Schuylenburg psychiatric health clinic, pepper spray is being used to "calm" aggressive patients. The former Liberal MP Erica Terpstra has asked for an explanation about its use in the clinic from E. Borst, the Minister of Health.