pfc press statement on cs spray to PSNI

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday January 08, 2003 11:47 by Pat Finucane Centre - (posted here by Andrew) pfc at www dot serve dot com

Press Statement - For Immediate Release

The Pat Finucane Centre has expressed grave concerns at speculation that the PSNI may be supplied with hand held CS spray.

A summary of our concerns;

-Guidelines in the UK are operational only and are not legally binding,

-The medical journal Lancet has called for a moratorium on the use of CS spray by police until further research is carried out,

-An Inquest jury gave a verdict of unlawful killing following the death of a Mr Ibrahima Sey who had been held down by police officers and sprayed with CS spray. At the inquest the coroner recommended an urgent review of police use of CS spray, (see Amnesty International Report 1997)The research carried out by the NIO steering group into Patton Recommendations 69 & 70 focused on the use of CS gas in canisters or grenades in public order situations. The current proposal however relates to hand held CS spray. The hand held spray contains a significantly higher level of irritant-the hand held CS spray available in the UK contains 25 times more irritant than the CS spray used by police in the USA,

-The hand held spray would constitute an addition to plastic bullets not an alternative and would be totally unsuitable for public order situations.

-According to a study for the Department of Health, "Concerns were expressed that certain groups of the population, comprising individuals with bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and those suffering from hypertension or other cardiovascular disease, might be particularly susceptible to the effects of CS spray."

-CS spray authorisation for UK use was first given by Conservative minister Michael Howard in August 1996, before clinical trials had been completed and while parliament was in recess.

-As a result of the RUC use of CS gas during the 1969 Battle of the Bogside in Derry the Himmsworth Committee was set up to enquire into the effects of CS gas. Key recommendations of the report have not been implemented in respect of the provision of CS spray to police forces in England and Wales.

-The provision of CS spray to PSNI officers would send out the extremely negative message that policing here was still dominated by the principle of coercion as opposed to co-operation.

END

Note to editors

For an email copy (not attachment) of the critical study,

HEALTH AND SAFETY IN POLICING: LESSONS FROM THE REGULATION OF CS SPRAYS IN THE UK

Dr. Brian Rappert, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham

& relevant excerpts from the Hansard parliamentary record

Send an email request to the PFC