Before the Badge: Lubbock Police recruits push through pepper spray

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Recruits are learning to fight through their pain at the Lubbock Police Academy. Recruits are nearly three-quarters of the way through their journey Before the Badge. But before they can wear the uniform, they have to prove they can serve and protect, even when they’re hurting.

Citizens, security guards, bouncers and other departments can all carry pepper spray, so it’s possible officers will be exposed to it out on the street. So to prepare recruits for that possibility, the academy pepper sprays them and sends them through a short obstacle course before letting them wash off.

“We want you to experience it in a safe environment so you can learn that you can still function and you are going to be okay, rather than the first time you’re experiencing it being a dangerous riot situation, or a citizen spraying you with it for the first time,” officer Jerry Mull said…

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