America does have that mentality too:
Quote:
When can police use pepper spray?
Officers are permitted to use pepper spray as a "compliance tool," says Charles J. Kelly, a former Baltimore police lieutenant who wrote his department's use of force guidelines. Indeed, pepper spray is often preferable to using batons or lifting protesters up. "When you start picking up human bodies, you risk hurting them. Bodies don't have handles on them."
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http://theweek.com/article/index/221...s-pepper-spray
Quote:
Understanding the psychology of policing is also very important, said Dunham.
“In their culture, it’s important to have authority. Most policemen will say that the only thing they have to protect them is authority, and they’re very sensitive to people who do not respect their authority,” he said. “When an officer gets on the scene, the number-one thing they’re supposed to do is take control” — and that dynamic is heightened when they know that other police will judge their actions.
“If you’re sitting there, and I give you a lawful order to move, and you lock arms, is that an act of resistance? I don’t see it that way. Some people do,” said Alpert.
In light of that dynamic, departmental recommendations against using pepper spray on nonviolent arrestees may be needed. About 45 percent of U.S. police agencies now allow pepper spray to be used in response to passive resistance, like that seen at UC Davis.
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http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...ay-psychology/
I think lying about being surrounded is an indication that he must have known he did wrong, but I'm not sure if its the pepper spray in itself, or if its because he did not use it correctly:
Quote:
What kind of pepper spray did UC Davis police use?
They employed a brand called Defense Technology, says Kyle Wagner at Gizmodo. The intensity of Defense Technology's various pepper sprays is based on "Major Capaicinoid content." The lowest concentration, 0.2 percent, is authorized for tactical deployment. A concentration of 1.3 percent is powerful enough to stop a bear. The type used on the students has a rating of 0.7 percent. The manufacturer recommends the spray be used at a minimum distance of six feet, yet the officers in this case sprayed it on sitting students at near-point blank range.
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I liked the tweet I posted because I do find it odd that they've been able to use pepper spray at will since the 90s, and they have been. Not that its right, but its like, did it really have to come to this, spraying white college kids, before most people would care?