OC Spray...The Basics

**ikor** · 09-09-2008, 13:14

Oleoresin Capsicum is the 'active ingredient in pepper spray. Break it down and it means...'Oleoresin' ...oily extract...of...'Capsicum'...the various capsinoids (hot stuff) found in over 300 types of hot peppers from all over the world...pepper oil for lack of a better term.

Capsinoids are used in many products including foodstuffs and even Ginger Ale, as well as diet pills and other products. They are organic in nature and generally safe for human consumption. Many of us enjoy 'hot sauce' or various spicy food seasoned with them. They have a long and excellent safety record that is well documented, including medical documentation from many studies and real world use.

For our purposes, we should know that OC acts as an 'inflammatory' on various mucous membranes, such as those found in the nose and throat, and can...but does not always...cause the pupils of the eyes to dialate. It also, as most know, causes a burning sensation on the skin and can be painful.

Now once we have our 'oil of pepper' we muct get it TO the bad guy. This brings into play the ingredients we mix it with as a 'carrier' as well as those we use to 'propel' the mix to our target. OC has been mixed with almost any liquid you can think of for this purpose and one of the most effective has been plain old isopropyl alcohol ('rubbing alcohol'). It works very well but has one slight flaw...it is, of course, flammable. This has lead to much criticism of alcohol as a carrier but almost all is based upon a single incident which took place years back with NYPD's famed ESU (Emergency Services Unit)

While doing my little study I heard this criticism and thought the best thing to do just might be to talk to the guys who were at the scene that day. so I called NYPD and was put through to Sgt. Shultize...the Sgt. in charge that day, who was some 2 meters away from the action when it happened. As usual there is more to the incident than you may have heard.

ESU had only received their OC a few days before encountering the 200+ pound 17 yeasr old 'juvenile' whose parents called NYPD saying he was bat shit crazy (technical police term ;D) He had two butcher knives, had stated he would kill his parents (who locked him out in the hall of the apartment buildng) and was extremely resistive / combative. No one in ESU at that time had received formal training on OC use and all they had available were 6oz 'fog' dispensers.

Upon arival they deployed the 'big boy squad'...littlest guy was about 6'2" 220 or so...with shields and managed to get the kid in the corner of a small room, held in place more or less by body weight and shields...he was still waving the knives around and screaming...not listening to commande, etc. Someone thought this was an excellent time to try out the new OC spray, so they proceeded to hose him down at close range with two full cans...soaking him in alcohol. Since he was not complying fast enough to suit the officer armed with the Tazer (Tazer technology has come a long way since this happened) THAT officer proceeded to fire a dart into his shirt and pull the trigger on many thousand volts of electricity. The current 'arched' from the shirt to his skin, causing an open flame in the presence of mucho alcohol, and the rest...as they say...is history.

They immediately smothered him and the fire, took him into custody and to a hospital where the docs said he syffered only a few slight burns not much worse than sunburn.

More later...gotta run for now.

MIke

**Corné** · 09-09-2008, 14:02

I eagerly await your continuation of this story. I seems to be very interesting.......

**Double_Tap** · 09-09-2008, 17:17

BASIC RULE #1

Do not spray yourself accidnetally in your own - car!!!

I did it this morning in peak hour traffic.......

Jirre still zinging!!!

I Double_Tapped myself!

**vaughan** · 09-09-2008, 17:29

how did u manage to do that double tap?

**ikor** · 09-09-2008, 19:48

OK...here we go again...Part II

The incident mentioned caused many timid Chiefs, Sheriffs and Administrators...not to mention Agency lawyers...to refuse to adopt OC which used alcohol type (flammable0 carrying agents. My agency agreed with my recommendation and did adopt them. They have never had a single negative issue with them that was in any Way connected with the alcohol or flammability since 1991.

One reason for use of alcohol is that it is organic and has a long history of safe medical use, so you can be pretty sure that the people you spray with it are not going to experience severe long term problems from exposure. Very important when adopting chemical agents for a LE agency in the US, but not a huge deal for private citizens. (Please understand that LEOs (law enforcement officers) are also 'citizens'...we all pay taxes, wonder where our next car payment is coming from, have kids in school, bitch about petrol prices etc. just like everyone else, so in NO way do I use the term 'citizens' as a slur to non-LEOs.)

The second reason is more relevant to our topic here, however, and that is the fact that the Capsicum does not really begin to work until the carrying agent has mostly evaporated...alcohol is cheap, organic and evaporates quickly. Other substances are used sometimes in an attempt to get a 'nonflammable' product however, including in some cases, water, since OC remains stable in water. The problem is that nothing discovered yet atomizes OC into particles as fine and well distributed as alcohol, so it IS still in use. Also, tests by CRT Less Lethal in Washington State have shown some OC aerosols marked as 'non-flammable' can, indeed ignite in large quantities while in the presence of an open flame. This not a huge issue even for agencies who use Tazers, but it is mostly a non-issue for the rest of us. DuPont's 'Dymel 22' is usually used as the propellant here in the states...if you wish to know more about it, a simple Google search will return many 'hits'...suffice it to say it is a non-flammable, non ozone depleting propellant.

In use, OC aerosol is most effective when delivered to the eyes, face and open mouth of an assailant. Since few bad guys will have their eyes or mouths closed during an assault (which may only be verbal at first but still an 'assault'...as opposed here to a 'battery' which means actually touching someone) A decent dose of OC will usually cause a person to involuntarily close the eyes, and will begin to shut down the 'deep breathing' capability through the throat due to the inflammation of mucous membranes. An adversary who cannot open his eyes or breathe deeply is usually less of a threat than one who can.

The 'burning sensation' is really secondary to the effect that OC has on the eyes and throat, but is often what those who have been sprayed seem to recall most...one female officer I sprayed called it 'hellfire in a can' Hah! I want to emphasize here that you simply cannot depend on any sort or 'pain compliance' when dealing with irrational, unstable assailants. It 'may' work, but it just as well 'may not'. Some people can seemingly bathe in a fog of OC and suffer no bad effects...not many, but a few.

Part of the problem is also rooted in the fact that a scared cop or citizen is going to usually decide if a little is good, a LOT must be better...with OC that is seldom true. For those here old enough to remember the old BrylCreme commercials...'A little dab 'll do ya'. The more spray you put on the guy, the longer it is going to take for evaporation and effectiveness to take place. If you give him the whole can, you may see what many cops have seen in field use...they still had to fight and physically subdue a suspect, and 20 minutes later he is screaming that he is on fire...not good. Remember, we don't want to punish the guy (well...we are not supposed to, anyhow ;D)...as citizens, we want to prevent his assault and get the Hell outta there...as cops we want to gain compliance and effect the arrest. Punishment is the court's job.

This fact, of course, now speaks to what type and brand of OC aerosol we choose, as well as what type of applicator...the subject of the next installment.

**ikor** · 09-09-2008, 22:11

OC Part III

I don't sell anything and have no affiliation with any product or company, but I am a believer in alcohol based OC aerosol. I am also a believer in 'fog' or 'cone' spray type applicator nozzles in most cases...we will discuss exceptions a little later. Studies have also found that there is little need to go beyond 5% OC products as they create no more practical effect at 10% than 5% but their residual effects do last longer. Remember, my study is from a LE perspective and we don't need to take all night to decontaminate someone so we can get him in jail, nor are we trying (as much as we sometimes wish we could) to punish him. I am also not a huge fan of products that mix OC with CS, although some such as 'Freeze +P' have worked fairly well in the field...but would certainly use them if they were all I could find.

Perhaps we should look here for a minute at SHU's...Scoville Heat Units, since they are so often used as a marketing tool by companies who sell OC aerosols. Wilbur Scoville was a chemist who devised a 'heat rating test' for rating the 'pungency' of chili peppers in 1912. (I'm thinking ol' Wilbur did not have much of a life ;D) The test consists of diluting pepper extract n sugar syrup until the 'heat' is no longer detectable to a panel of 5 'judges'. A 'sweet' pepper with no capsaicin at all would be a 'zero' on his test and the hottest peppers such as the 'habaneros' might go as high as 200,000...meaning they would have to be diluted by a factor of 200,000 before heat could no linger be detected. The weakness of this 'test' is obviously the fact that judging is subjective.

Currently the more definitive test for heat produced from peppers is done via something called 'high performance liquid chromatography'...also known as the 'Gillett Method'...a more accurate and objective test than Scovilles. However, Gilett stated that his 'ASTA Pungency Units' as derived from tests may be multiplied by a factor of 15 and stated as 'Scoville Units' It is from this mixed method that we get the claims of '10,000,000' SHUs and the like, few of which are really accurate, but it does give us a basis of comparison, and for our purposes when using OC aerosols for personal defense, the higher the better.

Depending on what nozzle is used, we may find OC spray that gives us (generally) a 'cone shaped spray' or a 'splatter spray' or a 'straight stream'...and that is not even considering 'foam' which is also available.Each has its good and bad points. Cone shaped sprays, sometimes called 'foggers' tend to be most effective at atomizing the active ingredients and have better what Mike called 'knock down'...which is really the effect seen from dialated pupils and shutting down the deep breathing capability quickly. They also, however, have relatively short (for small hand held units, maybe 6-10 feet) range and can more easily blow back or 'hang' suspended in still air and contaminate YOU as well as the bad guy.

'Splatter (my term only) type sprays tend to be a compromise between the cone or fog type and the straight stream...they have somewhat longer ranges and yet are still fairly effective with eye and throat hits. They don't evaporate as quickly, but an officer, say, working on the beach, will have fewer problems with self contamination than with the cone or fog. Since we have many beaches here in my home state this type is popular on the coasts.

'Straight Stream' nozzles have the longest range and least chance of self contamination, but are more difficult to hit the target with (a very rough 'shotgun VS rifle' analogy) and are the most difficult of all to get directly into the eyes and mouth and take longer to be effective. Our State Marine Patrol adopted this type, not because they did not prefer something different, but rather because they needed something they could use on the open ocean in boats and this had the range to get to the target.

As for the actual 'applicators', I personally want something I can index by feel in a hurry, and with a 'safety' top, which (here at least) means a flip top 'blocker' over the button you push. It only flips one way and thus if you get your finger/ thumb on the button it is pointed the right direction...AWAY from you! I will not use anything else for personal carry, even though there are many different styles.

Home use is a bit different and I have sent several huge dispensers across the pond to friends...they will blow fog 10 meters and beyond, but are the size of a small fire extinguisher...somewhat too large for daily carry.

Remember too...not everyone is effected the same way by OC. Many have been sprayed with almost zero effects noticed...it is a tool but it is NOT 'magic' I prefer and use Fox brand OC...the 2oz flip top in 'medium fog' style. I only wish they made it in the 'mini' with the same nozzle and top. If your OC does not have any immediate effect, you must have a plan for 'what now?' Can you lawfully escalate or should you run? (leaving is not 'cowardice' when your livelihood and that of your family may be at stake) For sure if you get away you should call it in to the Police. And OC or a knife or even a gun does not give us leave to be complete idiots and look for trouble either. It is one tool in our toolbox...that is all...just a tool. A generally good one, however.

Foam is now used extensively in situations where contamination is not desired, such as jails and prisons, but it mostly only works well on the eyes and via 'burning' but not so well otherwise. I am not a fan of foam but might change my mind in an institutional setting.

**Double_Tap** · 10-09-2008, 05:50

Had it in my pocket of carry jacket

It wedged in between the handbrake and seat - I pulled up handbrake - and ---- PEEESSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH

Cough spletter bitch

My lef hand - was still zing last night when I went to bed

**Corné** · 10-09-2008, 08:16

How many of you out there that do carry pepper spray also make the effort to have some decontaminent available like in the vehicle or at home? I am not saying that you should carry this also but it could serve a purpose in having it available somewhere in case of self contamination as explained by Double Tap..... hpy71

**Corné** · 10-09-2008, 09:10

I see a lot of mentioning about FOX pepper spray. I have never seen this particular brand on the shelf as yet in SA. Are they available in SA and from who?

**Mike** · 10-09-2008, 11:35

Hi Corne.  I use Fox spray and get it sent to me by a friend in the states.  Another friend of mine who is a dealer here tried to get the stuff in but the local customs refused on the grounds of a 'banned substance' in the formula.  I beleive Fox adds some 'goeters' to improve the zing and this may be the issue.  The reason I like Fox specifically is the knock down effect that it has.  Every guy so far that I have sprayed (there's been a number) with it has gone down just about immediately, typically dropping to their knees with hands grabbing their faces - this is not to say that it WILL happen every time, but I like having the avarage balanced to my side :).  Fox also has a UV dye for suspect ID at a later stage.  Like Ikor, I do not like to play 'advertising agent', but if something works, why not tell folks about it.