Video: TPSD Security To Carry Pepper Spray

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TUPELO, Miss. (AP) – The Tupelo School District’s 18 school security officers will start carrying pepper spray when classes resume in the fall.

The school board voted this week to let the officers carry pepper spray while working.

Andy Cantrell, the district’s director of operations, tells the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (http://bit.ly/1f4TML9 ) the officers were hired to maintain a safe and orderly environment at the schools and they need resources to do that.

Cantrell says the officers have attended training that included having them get sprayed by it. That allows them to fully understand the chemical’s effect so they will only use it when necessary.

The officers are state-certified employees stationed at campuses throughout the district.

They are different than the four school resource officers, who are provided by the Tupelo Police Department.

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