'Pepper Spray Cop' of UC Davis goes back in time to make things right (Norman Costa)

Time Travel News Network (TTNN): Thursday, November 24, 2011, 0200 hours EST

'Pepper Spray Cop' of UC Davis goes back in time to make things right (Norman Costa)

Scientists are hailing the 'first of its kind' opportunity to go back in time and undo a terrible mistake. Lt. John Pike, now known as the infamous 'Pepper Spray Cop of U.C. Davis,' went back in time to change the way he handled the breakup of a peaceful student protest. It was not something he planned on, but, a freak accident gave him the opportunity for a do-over, and be the first human to travel back in time.

Immediately after Pike was suspended, he fled to Europe to avoid the press and aggressive process servers. Quickly, he got a job as a security guard at a scientific research lab in Switzerland. The accident happened on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 1650 hours, GMT. He walked into an area where neutrino research was underway. Officer Pike thought he was going into a utility room for HVAC. He walked directly in front of a massively energized neutrino beam and vanished from sight.

Two days ago Lt. John Pike gave a press conference to explained what happened today. He said he was dazed for a short time before realizing he had traveled back in time to about 3 days before the pepper straying incident at UC Davis. He went to an airport, immediately, to fly back to Davis. After a complication regarding his frequent flier miles – he hadn't yet flown from California to Switzerland so his mileage had not been recorded – he was issued a ticket and flew home. 

We at TTNN received a video tape, three days ago, of Pike's 're-do' of handling the protest. We were stunned when we saw it, and we concluded it was a some kind of hoax and threw it out, but not before transcribing the audio. With the benefit of hindsight – actually time travel – we changed our minds and will now read the transcript of the audio portion.

May I have your attention. I am Lt. John Pike, Supervising Officer of the Security Police at UC Davis. My officers and I are a legitimate law enforcement and peace keeping force under the Constitution of the State of California. We have the same powers of arrest, enforcement, and investigation that other police units have in California. 

We respect and will protect your rights to protest and assembly. However, some of you are blocking a passage that is usually used for pedestrian traffic for members of the university and others. You can continue your peaceful demonstration 15 yards in that direction, and avoid blocking other people who are exercising their rights to come and go on this campus.

My superior in the University Administration directed me to clear the pedestrian traffic areas blocked by this demonstration. I am empowered to give you a lawful order to move out of the pedestrian traffic flow. Before I have to do that, I am asking you to move, of your own accord, 15 yards to your right. If you do not, then I have the legal authority to order you to disperse. If you do not obey a lawful order from the police, you are subject to physical removal by my officers, and being arrested. 

…

I am now giving you a lawful order, for the third time, to disperse and clear the pedestrian traffic area. In a moment I will give my officers the order to clear you from the area. Before I do that, I want to tell you how it is going to work. First, there will be no use of tear gas, pepper spray, billy clubs or truncheons. You have not been violent, so there is no need for us to use that kind of force. The officers will separate you, one at a time, handcuff you, and take you to a staging area over there. You will be photographed, and then issued an appearance summons. That means you must appear before a judge and explain yourself. After a period of time you will be released from your handcuffs and you will be free to go.

If you do not release your arm locks with each other, my officers will have to use physical force to separate you. We do not wish to cause you harm, and I do not want any harm to come to my officers. However, my officers will have to pry your arms and fingers loose. We will not use any more force than is necessary. When my officers approach you they will tap you on the shoulder. That is your command to release your hold, stand up, and go with the officer to the staging area. If you do not respond to this command then the officers will pry you loose and take you forcefully.

If you struggle against my officers, or you attempt to use any force on them, they will subdue you on the spot, put you to the ground, cuff you, and you will be arrested and brought to jail. We do not want to do this. We appreciate that you have been peaceful in your protest. This is your last chance to remove yourself from the pedestrian traffic area.

…

Officers, clear the protesters from this area and take them into custody as planned.

So there you have it – two of the strangest confrontations of police and protesters in history, and in history. There was another complication in this matter, one that pleased the many arrested protesters. Yesterday was the first day of the scheduled hearings before a judge. The court was thrown into disarray and confusion for most of the session. The one-time protesters presented their appearance tickets, but there was nothing on the docket, and there were no records of the summonses being issued. A number of UC Davis police officers were called into court to verify the arrests. The surprised officers could not recall making any arrests on the day in question. This went on for several more days until all 87 arrested protesters presented themselves in court. The judge sent everyone home.

 

Comments

[Louis DeFilippi]

Good little story Norm. As you may recall I do a fair amount of OSHA and EPA training. Over the years, I have found that proper training is the key to a safe outcome (or as safe as possible) under various critical circumstances. It is my guess that this officer was not properly trained as to how to properly approach this kind of a situation. In that regard, I do not blame the officer at all. Not one bit. I blame his superiors and the campus administration. They should have made it very clear as to how to properly handle situations such as this, such as how you (Norm) put together your mock, but right on, piece. All of the officers should have been trained (and periodly re-trained) accordingly, given written tests and even run though mock drills. If they are loose cannons, if they found the training too restrictive, then he should have been given a mark of no compliance. No compliance, no job.

[Don]

@Louis: I understand your point about the officer not being responsible for his actions and, although proper training is important and drills that reinforce that training help folks to better handle situations under stress. Problem is, you're making a serious error in assuming that the officer hadn't received proper training. My assumption is that he has received significant levels of training - I just don't know everything that his training entailed.

One thing I do know, though, is that risk assessment and the application of that risk assessment in making decisions are taught. I believe he seriously failed in properly assessing the risks that this officer believed he and his fellow officers faced. There was a small group of people committing civil disobedience in a clearly non-violent, non-threatening manner. No one was yelling epithets at the police. No on was making gestures that would have indicated hostility to the police. The videos clearly demonstrate this. Police had full freedom of movement and were in no way facing a hostile crowd. A rational assessment of the situation indicated that no force was necessary other than removing, and possibly arresting, those blocking the walkway. This man was a leader of the campus police force and expected to exercise a high level of skill when making decisions. He didn't do so.

Pepper spray is a fast, close order response tool. It could have been utilized if there had been a reaction that truly put the police at risk. In this case, it was used prematurely against a non-threatening, non-violent group of 20 or so people. Did the Lt. assess the risks? Of course he did. Did he do it correctly? No way. One of the things that truly galls me is the cavalier manner in which the pepper spray was used. The officers dispersing the spray calmly walked up and down the row of protesters spraying them again and again and again.

[Norman Costa]

@ Louis:

I am in 100 percent agreement with you on supervision and training. There are no substitutes.

@ Don:

I would add that the University administrator who has direct authority over the police be examined carefully on the policies that were or were not implemented. If I were the administrator I would be at EVERY campus confrontation to observe and take action as required. The University is responsible. If the administrator was remiss, or coherent policies non-existent, or good policies not followed, then the ultimate responsibility rests with the Chancellor or President.

We need to keep in mind that the top university job is as political a job as you can find. Many - I repeat, many - university and college heads are wimp toadies to regional and State politics. Some powerful positions are de facto appointees for the purposes of partisan national politics.

[Don]

I agree, Norm, that a leader would have been out there insuring that things were moving in the best and most appropriate direction. I have not been impressed by the Regent at UC Davis. Wimp toady - yeah, I'd say that is what I think of her.

[Ruchira]

It was more a "pepper hose" than pepper spray. The university chancellor needs to step down and an investigation launched into the chain of command to determine who okayed the action. Why was the campus police carrying pepper spray to this particular demonstration? This was not a crowd of random people on the street but students on university property. Have the university administrations in this country forgotten the tragedy of Kent State vs the Ohio National Guards? The police in Wisconsin and D.C. behaved with exemplary restraint and common sense during the street protests and demonstration at the WI state capitol. What were these macho cops thinking? Is it because they wanted to use all their arsenal once they had the opportunity? Were the pepper spray canisters nearing their expiration date and thet didn't want them to go to waste? Whatever the sadistic dumbasses were thinking, it was ridiculous!