Com­mis­sion­er of po­lice Gary Grif­fith says he nev­er rec­om­mend­ed or sug­gest­ed the use of in­sec­ti­cides or in­sect re­pel­lent as a weapon.
In re­sponse to re­ports in a dai­ly news­pa­per, the com­mis­sion­er called these state­ments ex­treme­ly mis­lead­ing.

The fol­low­ing is a press re­lease from the TTPS:

The head­lines and sto­ries in sev­er­al of to­day’s news­pa­pers are mis­lead­ing in the ex­treme and were NEV­ER said by the Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice. We are now, there­fore, forced to ex­plain both the chronol­o­gy of events as well as to pre­cise­ly show what was said.

Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice, Gary Grif­fith, yes­ter­day held a news con­fer­ence to ad­dress the main is­sue of miss­ing per­sons and do­mes­tic vi­o­lence. In the course of this news con­fer­ence, the Com­mis­sion­er was asked by a re­porter from the News­day if a woman were to use an il­le­gal item such as a Taser, pep­per spray, or penknife, would that per­son be charged.

The Com­mis­sion­er an­swered the re­porter, but not be­fore point­ing out that many
per­sons use more than he (the re­porter) sug­gest­ed. The Com­mis­sion­er shared that they have be­come cre­ative and some­times use aerosols in­clud­ing in­sect re­pel­lent and that such a course of ac­tion was fu­elled by women feel­ing threat­ened and des­per­ate.

AT NO TIME did the Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice rec­om­mend or sug­gest that per­sons should use in­sec­ti­cide or in­sect re­pel­lent as a weapon to pro­tect them­selves. Such a sug­ges­tion would be tan­ta­mount to the Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice invit­ing per­sons to do se­ri­ous dam­age to oth­ers as many re­pel­lents can blind per­sons and oc­ca­sion se­ri­ous bod­i­ly harm.

The TTPS does not in­tend to at­tack the free press, how­ev­er, we are forced to en­sure that the con­text of what was said, and how it was said, is clear.