Two minutes of excruciating pain, involuntary eye-closing and incapacitation for up to 15 minutes, is promised for any machete-wielding thug who tries to injure Police Officers from mid-January.

The incapacitant spray "Captor" was hailed as a significant addition to the Bermuda Police Service's Officer Safety Equipment by Commissioner Jonathan Smith yesterday. Captor will be attached to a Police Officer's belt and will only be used when there was a serious and immediate risk to an Officer or the public.

"I warn anybody if they take any weapon to any Police Officer this is what they are going to have to deal with," Commissioner Smith said.

The pepper spray has a range of 15 feet and leaves no permanent damage. Doctors at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital emergency room will be given instruction in handling people who have been sprayed with it.

"There is a responsibility on our part, if we are going to introduce equipment, and it is going to have the effect that it does, then we need to share that information with the medical community so that on those occasions where we have to use it, proper care can be taken," he said.

Police would perform better knowing they were better protected and the high risk of serious assault to Police was reduced, he said. The Reserve officers will also be trained and equipped with Captor, he said.

He warned Captor was prohibited under the Firearms Act 1973 and the unauthorised possession of Captor meant a two-year sentence in Magistrates' Court and using it on another could carry a minimum ten year sentence in Supreme Court.

Public Order/Officer Safety Coordinator Sgt. Russell Matthews said incapacitating sprays had been common by Police in the US, Canada and the UK since the 1990's.

He said the main ingredient of Captor ? the spray selected by the BPS for distribution to trained Police Officers in mid-January ? is Capsacin which is found in chili peppers.

"We are gearing up to commence training on January 16, the training is eight hours, so by the middle of January we fully expect operational officers to be equipped and properly trained to use the spray," Commissioner Smith said.

Nonivamide, a mass-produced chemical based on Capsacin, is also found in food additives and heat rubs, Sgt. Matthews said.

"Captor will close involuntary closing of the eyes for varying lengths of time on a person," he said. "I have personally been exposed to this type of spray and it is not a pleasant feeling."

Sgt. Matthews also said the first two minutes after being sprayed were excruciatingly painful.

Officers will be trained before they are equipped with pepper spray, he said, including after-care on a suspect and telling them not to rub their eyes.

Captor does not sting the eyes of innocent bystanders because it is a liquid not a gas, like CS spray, he said.

"You can target them individually rather than affect the whole crowd," Sgt. Matthews said. "Use of this spray by a Police Officer is a use of force and we subject to the same controls and measures as any use of force is now. Practically, this is definitely the missing link within the BPS, per se Officer Safety Equipment."

Deputy Chairman of the Bermuda Police Association Det. Sgt. Kevin Christopher said of Captor: "It is hoped, with this incapacitate spray, we don't find ourselves in as many violent struggles and hopefully it will result in less injuries not only to Police Officers but to members of the public."

Public Safety Minister Randolph Horton said 700 Captor canisters had been bought by Government for $31,500.

"The men and women of the Bermuda Police Service deserve every protection during the execution of their duties," Minister Horton said.

He said Government was gravely concerned of an increase in instance of Police confronting suspects with machetes, knives, "and on occasion, firearms".

However, the Minister said it was not a step towards women being able to carry mace to protect themselves against rape and was only for the Police at this time. Prison Guards will not be given pepper spray, he said.