Bus Drivers to Receive Self Defense Training and Pepper Spray

You’ll soon be getting more than just a bus ride if Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke has his way. The city official is concerned with the increasing number of vicious attacks on the county’s team of transit employees.

Surveillance videos show increasingly dangerous assaults on bus drivers. Drivers have little protection from the public and are being attacked on the job.

“I want to prevent these acts from happening, not investigate them after they happen,” Sheriff Clarke said. “I want to do everything we can to protect these public transportation employees. Right now they’re kind of helpless, sitting on the bus, trying to drive,” while the public has unfettered access to them.

“They need some self-defense weapons,” Clarke said, “so I’ve offered to train the bus operators in the use of pepper spray. It has to be used in a certain way to prevent the operator from being sprayed in the face as well as he’s trying to defend himself.”

When asked about danger to others on the bus if pepper spray is used, Clarke said there is no real danger, though it may prevent anyone hit with the spray from seeing for a while. However, basic first aid (flushing out the eyes) relieves the discomfort and other symptoms.

He would also like to see some self defense steps taken. Clarke doesn’t feel enough is being done to protect and enclose transit operators. While some don’t like the idea of a protective barrier around the operator because it doesn’t allow for interaction with the passengers, no other form of public transportation allows such access to the operator: airlines, subway systems, Amtrak, and even cabs.

The alternative, according to Clarke, is to get beaten up, as surveillance videos show time and time again.