What’s the best way to break up a schoolyard brawl?

Well, that depends on the school district.

School police don’t seem to agree on the best way to break up fights.

While some schools equip their officers with cans of pepper spray, others carry Tasers.

Still, other officers carry no weapons and rely on physical restraint to stop students from swinging fists.

Pepper Spray

During a recent fight at Galveston’s Ball High School, a security guard used pepper spray to break up a fight in the commons area after ninth-grade lunch and to disperse a “resistant” crowd. Fifty students were treated by the nurse for pepper spray exposure, 42 were sent home at their request.

According to security guard Herman Gamble’s report, there were two fights happening at once, and a large crowd of up to 70 students was yelling and jumping.

“I (Officer H. Gamble) sprayed O.C. spray in both directions of the fights,” he wrote in his report.

Gamble said the crowd wasn’t responding to his verbal warnings.

But mother Trish Barnett said there was no verbal warning and no way for her son, or other students, to get away before they were sprayed.

She said her son, 10th-grader Arthur Barnett, was passing by the commons area on his way to PE while the fight raged. He tried to get away but still inhaled the spray. Trish Barnett said her son text-messaged her from class, she picked him up from school and took him to a doctor. He was nauseated, had a headache and itched all over, she said. He couldn’t eat until the next morning, she said.

“Pepper spray is not an option at this level,” Trish Barnett said.

Documents obtained through the state’s open records law show pepper spray was used Ball High at least three other times last school year. All three times, Gamble was the one wielding the spray.

District Police Chief LeeRoy Amador said Gamble has always acted properly.

“Every time has been justified,” Amador said.

Pepper spray is not used in the district’s middle or elementary schools.

The only other Galveston County district that seems to use pepper spray is Dickinson public school district, which is policed by city officers.

Chief Ron Morales of Dickinson police said officers would determine the most prudent use of force necessary to disperse a crowd, whether at school or anywhere else.

“We’re not going to run to an active bank robbery with a can of mace or nightstick. We have to rely on the officer’s judgment to use force in any type of situation,” Morales said.

However, the last time officers used pepper spray at a school event was years ago at a football game to break up a fight, Morales said.

Tasers

Pepper spray is not the most forcible option available to school police, Amador said.

In the Katy public school district, which is about six times as large as Galveston’s school district, officers shun the chemical spray, opting instead to sometimes use Tasers to break up fights.

Officers have used the stun guns on students three times since they started carrying them two years ago, district police chief Mark Hopkins said.

“Our policy is very clear about the use of force,” Hopkins said. “When breaking up fights, you clearly, simply use no more force than necessary to affect the arrest.”

Officers at Katy ISD don’t use pepper spray because it contaminates buildings, is difficult to clean up and affects students who aren’t necessarily involved in the fight, Hopkins said.

“It’s not controllable like a Taser,” he said.

Physical Restraint

Still, others think the only effective way to end the schoolyard brawl is through physical restraint alone.

The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office, which provides security for Texas City and Clear Creek public school districts, refuses to use any sort of weapon, including pepper spray, Tasers or batons, said Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo.

“The most serious thing we’ve ever done is putting hands on (a student),” he said.

As a general guideline, the sheriff’s office avoids pepper spray in any situation where it can affect innocent bystanders, including students and adults.

“We avoid that at all costs, particularly inside a building,” he said. “I can’t remember any time we used pepper spray in a building.”

During school fights, sheriff’s deputies shout for students to stop, then start handcuffing and arresting them.

Friendswood and Hitchcock school district officials say they’ve never had a documented instance of any kind of use of force to break up a fight. Santa Fe school district does not have a policy on use of force, but district officers do not use pepper spray or Tasers.

Reporters Chris Paschenko and Sara McDonald contributed to this report.

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In Your Face

WHAT IS IT: Pepper spray, or OC spray, is a chemical agent used in riot and crowd control, as well as self-defense. In rare cases, it can be deadly.

The active ingredient is capsaicin, derived from the fruit of plants in the Capsicum genus, including chiles.

EFFECTS: It causes the immediate closing of the eyes, difficulty breathing, runny nose and coughing, lasting, on average, about 30 to 45 minutes.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE SPRAYED: Capsaicin is not soluble in water, so drinking or rinsing with wather will have little to no effect. It is, however, soluble in fats and oils, so milk or detergents can be used to blunt its effects and wash it off.

Some of the oil can be washed off the face using a degreasing, non-oily soap, such as a mild dish detergent or baby shampoo, and a fan will provide some relief.

SOURCE: Wikipedia