I was talking over police violence with a friend the other day, and she mentioned that, to carry mace or pepper spray, all members of the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) have to be sprayed, point-blank, in the face with it each year. As a result, many officers choose not to carry mace or pepper spray. Apparently that’s a fairly common policy for a police force to have, and I think it makes a lot of sense because it discourages officers from using pepper spray, mace, tasers, or other “less than lethal” weapons to subdue nonviolent offenders if they know what it actually feels like to be on the receiving end.

Seems like a sane thing to do. At my high school (admittedly not the most peaceful place in the world), all the security guards carried mace. During one hallway fight, a group of students trying to walk to class were maced in the face by an overeager guard. Perhaps things would have been different if he actually knew what that felt like.

• This post was originally hosted on the Tufts University blog Jumbo Talk