CAPE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPUTIES NOW ARMED WITH PEPPER MACE

JACKSON -- Cape Girardeau County sheriff's deputies followed the lead of other law enforcement officials Wednesday and picked up a new weapon.

Department members began carrying pepper Mace, the popular law-enforcement tool used to subdue threatening people.

"The fact is ... you can disable a person without causing serious injury to them, a lot better than using a nightstick" or something similar, said the department's chief deputy, Leonard Hines. "This way the subject doesn't get hurt, the police officer doesn't get hurt. It benefits everybody concerned."

Hines said Cape Girardeau County Sheriff Norman Copeland has been considering using the Mace. The department also read what the U.S. Department of Justice had to say on it, he said.

"After studying it we felt that it would be effective and safe."

Pepper Mace is a derivative of cayenne pepper that subdues its target with an immediate burning sensation, reportedly forcing those sprayed to close their eyes. It needs only water to wash away.

The sheriff's department hosted a training session on the Mace Wednesday morning after getting it in last week. Hines said Cpl. David May of the Missouri Highway Patrol in Poplar Bluff conducted the training.

Twenty-five department members attended the training, said Hines. The department members who will carry the Mace, he said, are patrol members, jailers, jail matrons, investigators, bailiffs, and the lieutenant and sergeant in the department's operations division.

Three Chaffee police officers also attended the training session. Chaffee Police Chief Ivan McLain said the department is "looking into the aspects" of using the Mace.

"To me, if it works as good as they say it does, we might be able to use that instead of shooting somebody," McLain said. "I want to see the reports from (the officers) as to their opinion of it and study into it a little more," he said.

McLain said he would present the option of using the Mace within the next couple of days at the Chaffee Police Commission's November meeting. McLain said he would have to clear the legality of the Mace with the commission and the city's attorney.

Hines said it will probably cost between $400 and $500 to provide the sheriff's department members with the Mace. Uniformed department members will get a 4-ounce canister while department members who spend much of their time in plain clothes such as investigators will get a smaller size canister.

Use of pepper Mace by the Cape Girardeau Police Department also figured into the sheriff's department's decision to begin using the Mace, said Hines. He and Copeland both talked to several police department members, who talked of how effective Mace is, Hines said.

The police department began carrying the Mace in September. Capt. Steve Strong said it has worked well and the department has had no problem with its use.

Strong said: "We have had a few instances where individuals have indicated they wanted to fight, and they were sprayed with pepper Mace and there was no fight; whereas before, there would have had to be some kind of physical confrontation with the individual. In every instance it has prevented actual physical contact with an individual, which has lessened the chance of someone being injured."

When the police department began carrying the Mace, Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard Boyd Jr. said the Mace had come into widespread use 1 years ago and that the FBI now uses it.

Jackson Police Chief Larry Koenig said a decision hasn't been made yet on whether the Jackson Police Department will also carry the Mace.

He said: "It's something we're going to look at, but we haven't definitely set a time period. It probably will be something we'll look at after the first of the year."